


Refugees

by junkerin



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Rape/Non-con Elements, Refugees, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:35:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 20
Words: 44,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7715134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junkerin/pseuds/junkerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared lives a happy live with his family in Cambria. Untill the day a civil war destroys everything Jared has ever known. Forced to leave his home he risk everything to bring his family to the safety only Amerigo can provide.</p><p>Jensen is the National Refugee Advisor in Amerigo his job is to help the many refugees reaching Amerigo.</p><p>Then he meets Jared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The seven consecration steps of Mithras are:  
> 1\. Corax (Crow)  
> 2\. Nymphus (Bridesman)  
> 3\. Miles (Solider)  
> 4\. Leo (Lion)  
> 5\. Perses (Persian)  
> 6\. Heliodromus (Sun runner)  
> 7\. Pater (Father)  
> ________________________________________  
> Cambria = Wales  
> Cei Newydd = New Quay  
> Albion = England  
> Caledonia = Scotland  
> Liurpul = Liverpool  
> Brycgstow = Bristol  
> Caerdydd = Cardiff  
> Goodwick = Fishguard  
> Waes Fjord = Wexford  
> Baile Átha Cliath (BAC) = Dublin  
> Roscam = Galway  
> Markland = Labrador etc.  
> New Amsterdam = New York  
> Vonstreuben DC = Washington DC  
> Brith = Great Britain  
> Eire = Ireland  
> Isl = Iceland  
> Nunaat = Green land  
> Frankomerigo = Canada  
> Amerigo = USA  
> ________________________________________  
> Great parents Padalecki had four children: Jim Beaver, Ruth, Justin and Jerome  
>   
> Jim: no children  
> Ruth: Chad  
> Justin: „Tom“  
> Jerome: Jared + Tammy  
> ________________________________________

The seven consecration steps of Mithras are:  
1\. Corax (Crow)  
2\. Nymphus (Bridesman)  
3\. Miles (Solider)  
4\. Leo (Lion)  
5\. Perses (Persian)  
6\. Heliodromus (Sun runner)  
7\. Pater (Father)  
________________________________________  
Cambria = Wales  
Cei Newydd = New Quay  
Albion = England  
Caledonia = Scotland  
Liurpul = Liverpool  
Brycgstow = Bristol  
Caerdydd = Cardiff  
Goodwick = Fishguard  
Waes Fjord = Wexford  
Baile Átha Cliath (BAC) = Dublin  
Roscam = Galway  
Markland = Labrador etc.  
New Amsterdam = New York  
Vonstreuben DC = Washington DC  
Brith = Great Britain  
Eire = Ireland  
Isl = Iceland  
Nunaat = Green land  
Frankomerigo = Canada  
Amerigo = USA  
________________________________________  
Great parents Padalecki had four children: Jim Beaver, Ruth, Justin, Jerome 

Jim: no children  
Ruth: Chad  
Justin: „Tom“  
Jerome: Jared + Tammy

Prologue

Mithras had come to men to give them the order of the universe and promises that if you followed Mithras’s fiats you were invincible. The Seven Steps of Consecration of Mithras showed the true believer the way to Mithras’s grace. Women had no place in this order save for their role of bringing forth new life and servicing their man.

That was the beginning. Mithras was originally a cult only for warriors and men, but time demanded change and development. So it changed and became a religion for all, men and women, old and young. Offering support and guidance, building hospitals and orphanage for those in need, it no longer insisted on the Seven Consecration Steps of Mithras. Instead, it became common that men and women worshiped Mithras together as equals. Those changes and developments happened over a long, long time, giving people time to adapt and learn. 

Only the Old Order didn’t change, a small group of men of eternal yesterdays closed itself off to those changes and insisted on outdated 2000 year-old decrees. 

As always, later it was difficult to tell how it truly began, but the economic strife, political unrest, growing unemployment and lack of educational and job prospects for younger men in Caledonia, led to a strengthening of the Old Order. 

For many, many centuries the three parts of Brith lived together, peacefully, in one big country; Caledonia in the north, Albion in the east and south, and Cambria in the east.  
In the beginning of the Old Order’s resurgence, there was little interest. Their views were seen as strange, their rules obsolete. Their movement went almost without notice. 

So, in the beginning the Old Order gathered discontented men with little to no education but with a deep rage against the establishment in Albion. First, they were viewed as some strange movement, only possible in the cold and harsh weather up north, but soon more and more discontented men joined the Old Order. Suddenly, provided with a power and influence, the Old Order grew and what had started as a movement of a few grew into a wave of fire that buried Brith.

-:-

Established by the old Padalecki, Jared’s grandfather himself, the weekly family dinner in the Padalecki family had always been a huge affair. Jared’s father, as the family patriarch, carried on the tradition.

Jared’s grandfather had also founded the family business, Padalecki Construction. He had built a house for each of his four children and the one that held the business. So, Jared’s family owned the block with a big house on each of the four sides of the courtyard with a large garden in the middle along their shared court where they also kept all the bulldozers, trucks, and other equipment needed to build houses. 

Today, Jared’s father, Jerome, sat at the head of the table. Someday, since he was the oldest, it would be him. All important decisions and announcements were made during these dinners. Jared still remembers the uproar he witnessed as a little boy when his Uncle Jim had announced that he would be moving to Amerigo. He, finally, wanted to follow his dream and open his own garage. His grandfather had been furious. Jim was his oldest son, he was supposed to stay and work for the family company just like his younger siblings. 

Jared’s father was the second oldest, followed by Chad’s mother, Ruth, who married Michael Murray. Tom’s father, Justin, was the youngest who married Jennifer. Jared loved living with all his family. Growing up together with his cousins, Chad and Tom, was like having two brothers. Best of all, they were all roughly the same age if only a couple of months apart. 

It had been more than sixteen years since his uncle left for Amerigo. His grandfather had died six years later after finally making peace with his oldest son. The last big news of the family was when Jared came out to his family as gay, and when Chad and, his intended, Gen, postponed their engagement. But, usually, the Padalecki family dinners were a merry affair. The ten of them would sit around the big dark wooden dining table, Jared’s father, his mother and his little sister on one side, across from his Aunt Ruth with Uncle Mike and their son, Chad. To their left sat his Uncle Justin with Aunt Jennifer and their son , Tom. The forth side of the table was always reserved for Uncle Jim and his wife Selma. It didn’t matter that they lived across the ocean in Amerigo, they were there in spirit.

On this Sunday, Jerome, was barbequing. He was famous for his grilling abilities! The big dining table had been carried out to their shared garden right next to the boy’s old playhouse, an old camper. 

“I talked to Jim last night,” Aunt Ruth told the family. “I told him that I’d bought tickets for the kids. He said he would take them in.”

“Don’t you think,” Uncle Justin asked, “that you’re over reacting?”

“I would like to visit Uncle Jim,” Tammy, Jared’s little sister, skipped in. Jared shook his head thinking that just because some weirdoes were acting up, his aunt was panicking. 

“Have you heard about what Heliodromus is doing? It was on the news the other night,” Tom asked his father, passing the bread along. “The government is expecting more attacks.”

“Yes, but I think it’s more likely that they’ll attack Albion than Cambria,” Tom’s father said. Heliodromus and the Old Order were a favorite theme around the dinner table, lately.

“I want to invite Gen to our next family dinner.” Chad thru in. Chad really didn’t want to discuss over and over again if Heliodromus was a threat or not. He wanted his girl at his side during the family dinners. His mother looked at him and said:  
“We already talked about it. When she takes your engagement ring, she is more than welcomed in this family and at our table.” Chad took this was going to be a long evening arguing with his mom.

“I want earrings.” Tammy told her father.

“Darling, you’re too young to have earrings.” Jared’s mother said, filling a glass of water and passing it to her husband.

“Tom, Chad, Gen and I want to go to the beach on Wednesday,” Jared told his father also taking a glass of water, and thanking his mom with a nod. 

“Can I come along?” Tammy asked her brother excitedly with big pleading eyes.

“No. Only kids above one and a half meters are allowed to come,” Jared teased his sister, “and you know the puppy dog eyes don’t work on me.”.

“That is a lie! Mom!” Tammy turned to her mother, “I want to go with Jared.”.

“No, Princess,” she said trying to calm her daughter, “we need to go shopping for your school things.”.

Jared and Chad shared a grin over the table.

Jared just loved his loud and slightly crazy family. 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1  
Jared felt that same thrill he always got as he rode another wave back to the shore. He loved the feel of the still warm Atlantic as he glided the last twenty feet to the beach. Planting his board in the sand, he shook the water from his hair. 

It was a perfect day for the beach. The sun was deliciously hot, the sky was clear with almost cartoon-perfect clouds that were just enough to break-up the endless blue. He waved to Chad sitting with his girlfriend, Gen, and grabbing his board, trudged to where they sat on a large bright red and yellow striped picnic blanket.

Jared considered catching another wave, but wanted to spend a bit more time with his friends. He looked up as his cousin, Tom, called out to him. Jared loved the feel of the soft sand on his feet. Cambria’s beaches didn’t have the shale cover you found on other Brith beaches. It was a small source of pride that their sand was soft and white. 

He dropped his board and grabbed a towel spraying his friends with water and sand.

“Hey watch it!” Chad called out, trying to shield his girlfriend. 

“Chad get off me!” Gen said, pushing Chad. 

Shading her eyes, she looked up at Jared, while he was drying himself. “How are the waves?” 

“Fantastic, I caught some really good ones,” he answered as he lay down on his towel in the warm sand. 

“Tom made a vid with his cell phone.”

“Yes,” Tom laughed, “a Tristan Jared Padalecki movie, staring Jared Tristan Padalecki filmed by Tristan Jared Padalecki.”

“What?” Gen asked looking between Jared and Tom in confusion.

Jared sat up and turned to Gen. “Tom’s real name is Tristan Jared Padalecki, as you can imagine that led to some irritation, not only in our family but also at school, college and everywhere we went.” 

“When I was ten years old,” Tom told a still stunned Gen, “I told my family and friends my name was now Tom and my last name would be Welling, my mother’s maiden name. Since then, everybody calls me Tom except for my mom she still calls me Tristan.” Gen giggled thinking it was a bit funny, too, that the two cousins had, basically, the same name.

“What time is it?” Jared asked no one in particular.

“Almost three,” Chad answered, “Why?”

“Then I have some time to warm up and then go back and try to catch some more waves,” Jared said getting comfortable in the warm sand. He watched the sea roll in and out. It was relaxing and distracting. It would be a long time until next summer.

“Did you hear anything about our university?” Tom asked Chad a little while later.

Chad and Jared were both 22 years old and seniors in architecture and Tom and Gen were both 21 and studying to become teachers. Chad and Jared planned to work together in the family business. _Building houses, serving people, the family business._ That was the Padalecki slogan. 

“Come on guys,” Jared interrupted, “This is our last day at the beach. I want to enjoy it. It’s bad enough that Mom and Dad don’t talk about anything else but the Old Order and the fighting.”

“But Jared this is important,” Gen spoke up, “summer break will be over in a couple of days, but with this unstable situation and the fighting going on in Caledonia, it could be too dangerous to go back to school.”

“Caledonia is far away Gen,” Jared reminded her.

“Yes, but still, Jared. They are fighting,” Gen insisted, “on TV they showed that Heliodromus is gaining ground and I don’t know, I think I fear the worst.”

Jared shook his head.

“Jared, I know you don’t want to think about it, but it could become a concern for us very fast,” Chad backed his girlfriend up. “When the Heliodromus reach Liurpul they could start attacking Cambria.”.

Jared didn’t want to think about it, he wanted to enjoy the last days of summer with his friends, but they were doing a great job of spoiling it for him. As far as he was concerned the terror attacks were far away. They were just something you saw on TV, nothing that concerned them or their life. 

“Our parents talked to Uncle Jim on Skype a couple of days ago and mom said she bought tickets for us,” Chad confessed to Jared to make it clear that their parents were seeing a clear and present danger. 

“Who is US?” Gen spoke up.

Chad exchanged a look with Tom and Jared. “Us” was, according to his mother, family. And family first meant, him, Tom, Jared, and Jared’s little sister, Tammy, and, of course, their parents. Flight tickets to Amerigo were very expensive and even though their family was very well off, paying for so many tickets without a definite flight date was a stretch of their finances. 

“Look, Gen…” Chad started. 

“No!” Gen’s eyes sparkled with fury, “I can’t believe your mother is still mad at me because I didn’t want to get engaged to you last year!”

Jared thought she was probably right and he got why Gen had postponed the engagement. She wanted to be independent. They were young. They had all the time in the world to start a family someday.

But his Aunt Ruth had other ideas. She’d seen it as some kind of betrayal when Gen decided she wanted to finish her studies and work as a teacher before she married and had kids of her own. 

Chad reached out to take Gen´s hand but she pulled away shaking her head. “No, I get it. To her, I’m not family.” She got up and walked away. Chad was up and following her.

“Gen! Chad called after her, Gen let’s talk …”

“Trouble in paradise,” Tom commented with a smirk. “She should be grateful that Chad still wants to marry her.”

Jared looked bewilderedly at his cousin. Sometimes, Tom had strange opinions. “I thought you liked her.”

“I do,” Tom agreed quickly, “but I think, sometimes, it’s better for women to stay home and take care of the house, kids and husband.”

Jared didn’t even want to comment on that shit. “I’m going back out,” he told Tom as he got up, “try to catch a couple more waves.” He grabbed his board and jogged back toward the water. .

Gliding through the water Jared was able to forget the fight between Gen and Chad and the terror attacks up north, the worries his parents had about them. Jared realized that he was lucky; his family wasn’t really rich, but well off enough. None of them belonged to the radical groups that had started the fighting in Caledonia. He looked back toward the beach and saw Chad and Gen walking back to their stuff hand in hand. Tom was standing half in the water, obviously filming him again. 

He waved at them when an unexpected wave threw him off his board. Deciding he had enough for the day he paddled back to the beach. It was too dangerous to be surfing if he wasn’t concentrating. Jared was a very good swimmer. He’d been a lifeguard two years ago and swimming was still one of his favorite workouts, but he also learned the importance of paying attention when surfing. Life was good and he wanted to enjoy it. 

Getting back to his little group, he suggested they call it a day. Even though there was still a lot of daylight left, it was getting closer to dinner. They’d promised their parents they’d be home and it was time to pack it in for the day. They stowed all their belongings in Jared’s Jeep. The car was Jared’s pride and joy. It was a gift from his parents for his twenty-first birthday last year. They were all singing, off key, along with the radio. They were laughing at each other and just having a good time. 

There was a faint noise.

The noise grew louder as Jared drove the coastal highway back to their hometown. It irritated Jared. What is that noise? 

He turned off the music and stopped the car. 

The noise faded away and he couldn’t hear it anymore for a second, but it started again and grew louder. 

Sirens!

Air raid warning!

What should he do?

He jumped out of his car followed by Chad and Tom. He looked up at the sky.  
Over the eastern hills were three… no… five planes. 

Planes? Jets? Bombers? Whatever they were, they were heading toward Cei Newydd. 

“Get back in the car!” Jared screamed, “We need to get home!”

Under normal circumstances it would take Jared another fifteen to twenty minutes to get home, the way he drove today, he got there in nine and a half minutes. 

The town was in panic. 

The bombers had started dropping their deadly payload. Jared drove by burning houses. One of the first bombs had hit the fire department. The train station, the harbor and the old hospital were also hit. 

“Jared, watch out!” Chad shouted.

Jared hit the brakes, coming to a stop before parts of a collapsing building hit the Jeep.

“Shit!” Jared called out. 

The street was blocked by the demolished building. Fires were breaking out and spreading. Somewhere behind them was another explosion. 

Gen was screaming. 

Jared tried to turn the Jeep when they were hit by a blast. 

_This can’t be happening_ , Jared thought. _This isn’t right!_ But it was happening. His hometown was under attack. It seemed more like a movie... He saw Mr. Milton bleeding from a head wound carrying his son. Oh, God, was Jerry dead? 

_Get a grip on yourself_ , Jared thought. _But how, when literally the world around you is bursting up in flames?_

“Get us home!” Chad yelled at him. Jared could only nod.

Of course, he wanted to get home. Where else could they go? He finally managed to turn the car. 

Zigzaging through Cei Newydd, Jared finally got to their street, saw his house or, better, their houses. 

“Jared! Stop!” Tom screamed. 

Jared hit the brakes. Just in time.

A power pole fell across the street blocking their way.

“Get out!” Jared shouted, “We have to run.”

Jared looked up at the sky. The bombers had made a turn over the ocean and were coming back toward Cei Newydd.

He turned to look after the first plane flew over him and his friends. As if in slow motion, Jared saw the plane drop another bomb somewhere close to his old school. As he turned around he saw the second one heading in their direction. 

“Jared! Get over here!” He heard Chad shout. He, Tom and Gen took cover behind Miller’s Garage. 

But Jared wanted to get to his mom and dad. He started to run toward his house. When Jared looked up again he saw the plane drop another bomb. He ran faster toward his home. If he could reach them before…

The bomb dropped in the middle of everything that was Jared’s home. 

He heard the explosion. He saw the start of a fire as he was hit by a blast that pushed him back more than three meters. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was Tom’s bleeding face. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2  
It had started quite innocently enough. Jensen knew Jeff Morgan from his time in the Navy when in the jungle of Gran Colombia their radio died and Jensen talked the natives into helping them rather than selling them out. 

Their relationship continued that way. Jensen became Jeff’s man for impossible tasks and during their long talks over the years a deep friendship developed. Jensen knew that Jeff was ambitious and one day wanted to make a run for the highest office in Amerigo. He was a good man with a solid military background. He was the perfect fit for the office. After leaving the Navy, Jeff went on to seek and win the governorship of his state, while Ackles remained in the Navy.

So, four years ago after Jensen left the Navy, Jeff called on Jensen as someone he knew he could count on; Jensen was on board. Turned out it was one of Jeff’s prestige projects, building houses for the socially disadvantaged and the homeless. 

Of course they were successful and of course Jeffrey became President two years later when he ran for the round office. Jeffrey Dean Morgan managed it to be authentic and true without looking naïve. He became the President because the people trusted him to handle the problems Amerigo faced and to solve them. Just like he had built the houses, he got things done. 

It could have been the end of Jensen’s first venture into politics, but strangely enough Jensen found working for the people as enjoyable as the work he did as a Commander in Amerigo’s Navy. He’d been in Vonstreuben, DC and at Jeffrey Morgan’s side now for almost four years. It was an honor when Jeff asked him to serve his as his National Advisor. It was no surprise that not only was Jensen the President’s protégé but as a highly decorated Commander in the Navy’s Special Forces, he was a rising political star in his own right. 

As the nation’s golden boy, it no longer mattered to the populace as a whole that he was gay. He’d forged the way for many gay military men and women. He’d proven time and time again that one’s sexual orientation didn’t make them any less capable.

~*~

The sun shining thru the curtains told Jensen it was close to noon, as the ringing of his phone woke him up. He reached blindly for it, his head still covered with his pillow to keep out the light. 

“Mr. Ackles,” a clipped all-business voice spoke without waiting for comfirmation, “it’s Darby, we have a situation here, the President needs you here as soon as possible.”  
If Jensen had known he would receive a call from the President’s office he wouldn’t have drank so much last night with Chris and Steve.

“What is it?” Jensen asked as he sat up rubbing at still tired eyes. Darby was Jeff’s body man.

“Sorry, sir, not over the phone, there will be a car waiting for you.”

Twenty minutes later Jensen jogged down stairs to the waiting car. He was a bit surprised to see who’d been sent to drive him.

“Chris? What are you doing here?” He asked his friend and his … driver? He looked definitely better than Jensen did after their party last night. 

“Well,” Chris answered as he opened the door for Jensen, “if the President’s office asks me to pick you up, who am I to say no?” Jensen and Chris had served together in the Navy and after his time there, Chris had joined the Secret Service. That was where they’d met again.

“Do you know what’s up?” Jensen asked checking the news feed on his phone.

Chris looked at him in the rearview, “I was just told to pick you up. Nobody told me anything.”

Some fifteen minutes later Jensen and Chris were waiting outside the renowned round office. 

“Mr. Ackles,” Darby looked up from his desk, “please go in they just started.” 

The round office was filled with many of Morgan’s staff as well as leaders from every military branch. A large map of Brith was projected on one wall. 

The circular room was anchored by the President’s desk and black leather sofas giving it a modern and efficient style. Less gold and silk than a traditional presidential sitting room with a more professional approach on the aesthetics of the work place. The map showed Brith with its three parts Albion, Cambria and Caledonia. Caledonia many parts of Cambria were marked in red to indicate that Heliodromus had occupied them, with only Albion still shown in blue to indicate that it wasn’t.

President Morgan looked up as Jensen strode toward him, shaking hands with a couple of the military leaders he knew personally, giving nods of greeting to others, “Good morning, Mr. President.” He greeted with a smirk in his voice at using Jeff’s title.

“Jensen,” President Morgan whispered, “you are the only known former member of our Navy that sounds less respectful when talking to your president.” He smiled briefly as he clasped Jensen’s hand, but quickly became serious again.

It was a running joke between the two friends, that Jensen seemed to, sometimes, fail to give Jeff the respect that he deserved as President. It started when Jensen hadn’t been able to stop laughing when Jeff won the election. Jeff made his peace with it, he whole heartily appreciate Jensen informal approach. It kept him grounded and human. Plus, as President, he had more than enough people that only told him what he _wanted_ to hear. He relied on Jensen to tell him what he _needed_ to hear. And he valued their friendship above the office he now held. Their friendship, hopefully, would last longer than his terms as President.

“I´m sorry General Fuller, please continue,” Morgan said.

General Fuller cleared his throat and started again, “As I just said two hours ago Heliodromus launched a large offensive in Cambria and other parts of West Brith,” General Fuller addressed the gathering, “that had previously been spared in the fights. Since these areas were unprepared, we expect a high number of civilian victims.” 

“The attack itself was surprising, but what is more surprising is the quality of it.”

“Quality?” President Morgan asked, “Please, explain.”

“So far,” Fuller continued, “all actions of Heliodromus, as high a loss and as terrible as they have been, before today they presented more as terrorist attacks. What happened today is a civil war.” The General saw his concerns mirrored in the eyes of everyone in the round office. He clicked to the next side of his presentation, “They had planes and bombs. They attacked like an army and not like some terrorist group.”

“But how could that happen?” Morgan asked and turned to Mark Pellegrino. “How did they suddenly gain access to this kind of knowledge and weaponry?” 

Jensen knew Pellegrino from his time in the Navy. He was a Lead Agent with the Presidential Secret Agency and very good, as far as Jensen could tell, at his job. The few times they worked together, Jensen had found Pellegrino to be professional and astute.

“Betrayal, Mr. President,” Pellegrino said. “We have confirmed information, that at least fifteen highly decorated captains and a few generals changed sides, aligning themselves with Heliodromus. They brought with them not only their military knowledge, but also equipment. Some of those men,” he looked around the room at their military leaders, “as would be expected, had men that followed them as well.” 

He looked back at his president, “Apparently, The Pater promised them high positions in the Old Order and since all of Brith’s military is male, it’s not a big leap to think that’s what caused the change.”

The Old Order was a small fanatic group of the main religion both in Brith and Amerigo. If the Old Order, better known as Heliodromus, their fighting counterpart, had managed to gain so much influence in Brith, the situation was much worse than the news reports Jensen heard on the way in. 

He, just like eighty percent of the Amerigo population, had family ties with Brith. His mother had emigrated from Brith to Amerigo and even if Jensen no longer had family there, he felt connected to that country and had visited it many times. That was where half of his heritage came from and Jensen knew most Amerigos would feel the same.

“Do we have more information on The Pater?” Morgan asked Pellegrino, again.

“No, sir. By design this organization is closed to non-members and we think that most of the members don’t know who, where and what The Pater is. We think, but it’s just an educated guess, that The Pater is an encompassing title for a group of the highest ranking Heliodromus members that plan and make the decision for the whole movement. But we don’t know where they are located or if it _is_ just one person or seven.”

Jeff Morgan nodded his understanding and Jensen could see that he didn’t liked one bit of what he just heard.

“The Pater,” Kim Rhodes, Amerigo’s High Priestess of Mithras, clarified, “is also the highest consecration in the Old Order.” 

“How is the Old Order doing here in Amerigo? Do we have to fear a civil war here, too?” The President asked his Priestess. 

“Mr. President,” she gave him a respectful nod and Jensen could see the worry and concern in her eyes, “of course, we have the Old Order here too, but it is a very small movement. It has barely fifty followers and, probably, roughly one hundred sympathizers. And as you all know,” She said looking around the office “from the beginning, here in Amerigo the religion was more liberal than in Brith. We watch those few old line communities closely and so far they haven’t spread. As far as we know, there’s never been contact between them and the Heliodromus in Brith.”

“That does conform to our information,” Pellegrino jumped in,”however, we may need to monitor our fringe groups more closely.” 

“Well, in Brith it started with unrest in the fringe groups and it ended in civil war,” Morgan cut in.

Pellegrino pursed his lips in thought, “Maybe we should see who is willing to give their assistance tracking down the more violent fractions that might be supportive of the Heliodromus here and in Brith.” he offered as a solution.

Jensen hadn’t said anything. He still didn’t know why Morgan had called him, so it was better to stay quiet and listen. 

He’d heard of the Heliodromus, who hadn’t? The radical, violent and terrorist movement within the Old Order. The Old Order was the curse of Mithraism. It brought what was happening over in Brith a little too close to home.

By strict interpretation of the letters left by Mithras, only men were allowed to follow this religion, which was a ridiculously outdated rule and had been banished in the Great Council of 512.

Since then, it was common for the Seven Steps of Consecration mentioned only to complete the first: Corax. The other six Steps of Consecration were mainly ignored and only the Old Order insisted on them. 

Calling themselves Heliodromus, the second highest consecration step, showed not only their negative view of women, but also their rejection of modern society in general. 

A young man in uniform came running into the round office, handing a piece of paper to General Fuller. “Brycgstow,” he read aloud, “is under attack and Caerdydd was destroyed.”

The room felt silent – shocked in the face of such sudden warfare in a country that had been peaceful for decades.

“What should we expect next?” The President asked, pale but fighting to get a grip on his emotions. 

“Well,” General Fuller answered, “as for the military operation, after their successful attack, the next step for Heliodromus would be a ground offensive. Then to secure the conquered parts, send in ground troops. But I think there will be a military answer by the Brith government and we shouldn’t forget that they don’t have a majority behind them, so I expect resistance among the general public.”

Pellegrino jumped in, “We _should_ expect resistance among the general public.”

“So Brith is facing a real civil war; brother against brother,” Jeff Morgan shook his head. 

“We should expect,” Bishop Rhodes addressed Morgan, “an increasing number of refugees. People will want to get out.”

“And we’re their safe harbour,” Morgan muttered almost to himself.

Morgan motioned Jensen over and took him aside, so they could talk without everybody listening and at least give the impression of some privacy. 

“Thank you for your patience,” Morgan started, “I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you here today.” Jensen nodded shortly. Jeff gave his friend a small smile, “I want to ask you to coordinate a nationwide effort for the incoming refugees.”

“What?” Jensen asked not hiding his surprise.

“Jensen,” President Morgan looked his friend almost pleading in the eyes, “I need someone I can trust to get this done. To coordinate between NGOs, government, Secret Agency, the military and everyone else involved. To build or find shelters we’ll need. To be the face of our help, the one to turn to for all refugee involved questions.” 

Jensen was stunned. Sure he wanted to help, and his president was asking him to serve. He couldn’t turn that down, but this was huge, “I don’t know if I’m the right person, Jeff. I have the military background and…”

“That means you know how to talk to General Fuller, you already know Pellegrino and Bishop Rhodes adores you,” Morgan insisted. “Please, Jensen, in this crisis I need people around I can trust.” 

“It’s my pleasure to serve,” he answered seriously and pursed his lips in thought, “but, I get to choose my team.” Jensen was already making a mental list of things that would have to be done and the people he wanted on his team.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Morgan called for the attention of the entire room. “Mr. Jensen Ackles will be assuming the role of National Refugee Advisor and will supervise all efforts we have to make to help our brothers and sisters fleeing Brith.”

Jeff gave Jensen a little push in the back and suddenly he was surrounded by people asking him questions and wanting his opinion on circumstances he had never considered before. Jensen turned around and threw a sour look at Jeff. He could have sworn the President was smirking at him. But a President wouldn’t smirk, right?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3  
Something smelled funny.

That was the first thing Jared thought when he slowly opened his eyes. It was too bright, he slammed them shut again. And that smell… Did his mother burn breakfast again? 

No, it didn’t smell like burned bacon or pancakes… it smelled more like burned wood.  
Today, he wanted to go to the beach with Chad and Tom and…. No! Wait! They’d gone to the beach.

As more of his senses returned he felt something hard, like stone under him. Suddenly the memory hit Jared and he snapped his eyes open. Gen was bent over him, her face, dirty with soot, showed tear tracks .She was whipping her eyes.

“Jared, thank God you’re awake!” You were unconscious for almost twenty minutes,” Gen explained, hurriedly. “Can you sit up?”

“I think so,” Jared answered. His face felt like he’d been sun burned and his head ached like seven mad drummers were trying to kill him. He felt sick and took deep breaths so he wouldn’t throw up. 

He was in front of Miller’s carport. He looked around, “Where are Chad and Tom?” 

Gen looked at him and then past him towards his home, “They’re try… we…”

Jared got up as fast as he could and turned around looking at his home. Only his home wasn’t there.

There were walls and debris and smoke. 

There were ruins and fires and destruction.

It took Jared two or three seconds to process what he was actually seeing.

“Mom! Dad! Tammy!” He called out, shaking Gen’s hand off, he started to run to what was left of his childhood home. 

This couldn’t be! This must be a terrible nightmare. Any time soon he would wake up and everything would be fine. How could his home be destroyed? 

How could it be only this morning that he had been in the kitchen to kiss his momma good-bye for a nice day at the beach and now everything was gone.

Destroyed.

Bombed.

“Mom! Dad!” He called desperately again and again. “Tammy!” 

If he could find them everything would be okay. The house was destroyed, but they built houses, right? So, he just needed to find his family and everything would be okay.

He started fighting his way into the house. He heaved a beam out of the way, part of the kitchen door and then some pieces of a chair that looked remotely like the one in his dad´s study. Where could they be?

“Okay, Jared,” he told himself, “think about it, where would they be, where would they go? The cellar!” 

Jared looked around trying to figure out where in his home he was. 

The living room? No, the dining room probably, so he needed to get in… he heard a sound like crying, but muffled.

“Mom! Dad! Tammy!” He shouted growing more and more desperate.  
Why was he alone here? Why weren’t Chad or Tom or Gen helping him?

He looked across the court to Chad’s home and to his left at Tom’s house, but they were gone just like his.

He brushed his by now flowing tears away. He had to find the source of that whining. 

Jared closed his eyes.

He was dizzy and the drummers in his head hadn’t really stopped banging on his brain, but he tried to concentrate. He couldn’t hear the whining here in the former hall, so he climbed over beams and walls and broken furniture back to where the dining room had been.

The front wall had collapsed and the ceiling had come down, only the old cupboard was standing in its corner like nothing happened. 

There! 

There was that noise again, a high pitched whining. Jared heaved a beam out of the way and threw some ceiling outside. His hand touched some hard polished surface. Their heavy, old dining table, the one they had shared so many family dinners at, the one where his grandfather had started the tradition and his father had continued it. There wouldn’t be no more family dinners at this table. Two of its legs were broken, but under the two still standing, Jared saw some chestnut colored hair not unlike his own. 

“Mom! Mom, can you hear me?” Fear clogged Jared’s throat. His voice was barely above a whisper.

But his mother didn’t move or answer. 

Carefully and slowly Jared reached past her head and grabbed his mother under her arms. He started pulling her from under the table. When he finally had her freed, Jared looked into unseeing, dead eyes.

“Mom! No!” Tears of desperation were already running down his cheeks. His home was gone, his mother, dead – where was his father and Tammy? 

He was just about to get up when he saw a slight movement from the space under the table.

“Tammy?” Jared called. Again, there was a slight movement. Jared bent down and crawled under the table. It was pretty dark and his eyes needed a moment to adjust. 

Then he saw her. Tammy! His six-year-old sister was staring at him. There was a nasty scratch bleeding on her forehead. Her little body was curled up in the fetal position. 

“Tammy,” Jared called out again. 

His mother must have sought cover and security with his sister under the sturdy family table. His mother succeeded in saving her little daughter. Jared reached out, finally, and pulled Tammy closer, hugging her, pulling her close to his heart. There wasn’t much room but, still, somehow, Jared managed it. 

“I’m here, Tammy. I’m here,” he whispered in her hair looking at his dead mother barely two meters away. He realized that his mother had held her little girl in her arms when she died.

“Come on, we go to Gen, okay?” Jared crawled out from under the table, but Tammy didn’t move. She didn’t seem to hear him. Usually, Jared’s patience with his sister was endless, but, now, he just grabbed her and gathered her in his arms to carry her outside.

~*~

The first night they all slept together in the old camper they had used as a playhouse in Chad’s garden. Jared wasn’t sure they slept a lot that night. Chad hadn’t been hurt during the attack but had cut and bruised his hands when he was looking for his parents. Tom had a deep cut above his left eyebrow and it had bled quite heavily, but looked, mostly, okay, now. Chad and Tom found the their parents, but all four were dead. 

Since they didn’t know what to do with them they laid them in the destroyed kitchen of Tom’s home. It still had a roof and a door and they couldn’t just leave them outside. 

The next morning was another beautiful day, but the morning chill announced the coming autumn with storms and rain. It fit the destruction that surrounded them. They were sitting around an old garden table. Tammy was in Jared’s lap and Gen was still with them. They’d found some cold oatmeal and milk in Tom’s fridge as well as some other stuff they’d found in the ruins. 

Tammy had eaten when given a bowl of oatmeal, even if she hated the stuff, but remained … detached and still hadn’t said a word. Jared started to worry about that, usually Tammy was a lively little girl. Since Jared had found her, she remained silent. He was torn, on one hand he wanted to look for his father, what if he was buried under the wreckage somewhere and waiting for help? He also wanted to take Tammy to the hospital, so a doctor could check on her. Maybe that could wait for tomorrow.

They had just finished their breakfast when they heard loud voices coming from their courtyard. Jared set Tammy down and went with Chad and Tom to see what was going on.

Jared stopped dead in his tracks when he rounded the corner and looked at the parking lot of their construction company.

Soldiers, military, army whatever, there seemed to be soldiers all over their trucks, diggers and bulldozers.

“What is going on here,” Jared demanded. 

The CO stepped forward and looked Jared up and down. “Who wants to know?”

Jared pulled himself up tall, “I’m Jared Tristan Padalecki. These are our machines.”

“Well, not anymore,” the official looking man announced, “by order of our government we can confiscate them.”

“What?” Chad called out and stepped next to Jared, “You can’t do that.”

“I can, son,” the man assured them with a curt nod, “law of war. This part of Cambria is under martial law and that gives me the right to confiscate what I and my men need. And right now we need these trucks and bulldozers to clear some roads and barricade some others. So, if you would show my men how to operate them, we will be on our way.”

“No!” Jared said and stepped in the way. Chad and Tom also stepped forward backing him up. He’d lost his mother and probably his father, he’d lost his home he wouldn’t stand by while they, basically, took their company.

“No,” he repeated, “this is all we have left, if you take this equipment away – we are bankrupt!”

Suddenly, Jared was looking down the muzzle of a pistol pointed right in his face. 

“As I said,” the man’s voice was low and gritty, “these machines are confiscated. The government will compensate for any kind of loss, but we are taking them now. Step away, son, before this ends ugly.”

Jared looked worriedly at Chad and Tom. Chad shook his head and Tom had already stepped back, the hate obvious on his face. Jared had tears in his eyes when not twenty minutes later all their equipment was gone. He didn’t believe that the receipt he had clenched in his right hand held any value. He wondered if his father would have found a way out. 

That afternoon Jared, Chad and Tom were still searching for Jerome Padalecki but as the hours went by, Jared had to admit that it seemed less and less likely that his father was still alive. Gen and Tammy were also there. Gen was trying to find some food and had also started to rescue some personal things like clothing, photos, money and passports. Tammy just sat on a chair in the sun staring into nothing. 

They, finally, found the body of Jerome Padalecki under a collapsed wall. His body was so destroyed that they had to wrap him in sheets they found to keep his body together. 

The courtyard looked deserted without the construction vehicles in it. It had become difficult and dangerous to climb between the remaining walls of his ruined home, but Jared found a mostly undamaged teddy bear. Even if he couldn’t remember Tammy ever playing with it, he gave it to her and she hadn’t let it go. 

After another night in the old camper with silent crying, Jared knew he had to take Tammy to the hospital. The next morning, he took Tammy by the hand and headed out to Community hospital. On his way back from the beach, a life time ago, he had already seen some of the damage and destruction but, now, two days later it only seemed worse.

Tammy’s kindergarten was demolished, his old school destroyed, the homes of friends. the Cameron’s, Klein’s, Jones’ and Smith’s were burned to the ground. As strange as it seemed, the city park was left undamaged. Jared and Tammy with her teddy walked around the last corner and Jared stopped dead in his tracks.  
The parking lot and the hospital park were crowed with … had been made into a field hospital. Wounded people were everywhere, nurses and doctors were working all over the place. 

Jared gripped Tammy’s hand tighter as they walked up to the first nurse, “Sir, I need your help. Since the attacks…”

“Registration is in the green tent.”

“Okay, thank you.”

It was easy to find the tent. It was the one with maybe twenty to thirty people standing in line before an improvised counter with a tired looking young woman behind it. It took Jared and Tammy almost two hours to make it to the counter.

“What’s the problem,” the young woman asked.

“This is my sister, Tammy,” Jared explained, “she is six years old. Our home was bombed while she was in it. Since, I pulled her out, she hadn’t said a word.” 

“Is she eating and drinking?”

“Yes.”

“Does she have fever? Or another injury?”

“No.”

“Okay, listen,” the young woman looked up tiredly, “your sister,” she smiled briefly at Tammy, then looked back at Jared, “she’s experienced a great trauma. It’s hard for her to process what’s happened. Keep her warm, feed her, talk to her.” She looked past Jared, “Next.”

“What? Wait! I came here to get her help.” Jared almost screamed at the woman, but he kept his voice controlled. He didn’t wait an eternity in line just to be sent home with an equal to “Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.”

“Sir,” The woman started patiently, “There’s not much we can do for her. Your little sister needs a nice quiet environment where she can play and can start working to overcome what happened to her. Okay?”

Jared nodded his agreement.

“I’m sorry,” the woman continued patiently, “but that is something we can’t provide now or in the near future. My advice is take her away, get her somewhere safe and she will recover nicely.” She looked past him, again, “Next!” 

Jared was desperate but even he could see that the hospital was working at their maximum capacity. As he walked with his sister back to where their home once was, seeing the destruction all around him, his desperation became anger. How dare the Heliodromus attack his home, attack his family, kill his family. All he wanted, in that moment, was revenge, to take the fight back to them, to make them pay. He resolved then and there to join the army. He would fight for Tammy, for Cambria, he would avenge his parents. 

Yes! That was what he would do.

His home was destroyed, the company, basically, gone. Yes joining the military was a good and logical next step.

Chapter 4

Jared spent the morning, again, digging through what had been his home to find anything of value or something to eat. He found a crate to use as a basket. He was putting everything in it that he’d found so far. Tammy was watching him the whole time, eyes big and scared. Chad’s home had taken the main hit. There wasn’t much left. Tom’s home was the least damaged, but Jared knew enough about structure to see that it was beyond repair. For a brief moment he wondered where Tom was. He hadn’t seen him since this morning or the whole day yesterday; he sometimes seemed to just disappear, maybe, Jared thought, he needed time for himself. 

Jared was taking a break and looking at what he’d found so far. It wasn’t much, some photos, an old plate of his mother’s good china, some clothes for Tammy and himself. There wasn’t much left at all.

Chad walked towards Jared and Tammy, he held Gen tenderly by the hand. “We need to talk,” Chad said more seriously than ever, “How’s Tammy?” 

“They told me yesterday at the hospital, that they couldn’t help her and that Tammy just needs a peaceful environment and she’ll be fine,” Jared started, it felt good to talk about it. “I wanted to ask if you two if you would watch out for Tammy while I join the army and…”

“Jared, Jared, slow down.” Chad stopped him “I was able to find a working computer and checked our accounts. It looks like our parents sent all the money they could to Uncle Jim. They even sold the houses and just rented them back…”

“What?” Jared exclaimed.

Chad nodded as he drew Gen closer, “Looks like our parents were preparing to leave for Amerigo. They sold what they could and transferred it there.”

“So that means,” Jared swallowed and looked around “we don’t have any more money than what we have right now, because we can’t get to the money Uncle Jim has, until we get there, right?” 

“Jared there’s more,” Chad took a deep breath, looked at Gen and smiled a little. “Gen is … we’re going to have a baby.” Chad hurried to explain and didn’t give Jared a chance to interrupt or voicing his disappointment, “We’re going to Amerigo. If I sell everything of value, I can probably get enough money to buy her a flight ticket. I’m sorry, but I have to take care of my family.” 

_What?_ Chad wanted to leave him? Somehow in his plans he’d just assumed that Chad and Gen would take care of Tammy.

“Maybe you and Tammy should come with us,” Gen said with tears in her eyes. Leaving everything she knew behind would be hard, but she had a child to think about and she couldn’t just raise an innocent in a land at war.

~*~

That night Jared couldn’t sleep. It was a lot to take in, Gen and Chad planning to immigrate to Amerigo, Gen pregnant, Tammy traumatized to the point she wasn’t even herself. And all Jared wanted to do was sign up as a soldier. Well, it looked like, if he wanted to make sure Tammy was safe he would have to take her to Uncle Jim. 

How long could that take?

Three days at least, a week at the most – a week before he could start fighting for his country and getting revenge for his parents. 

The next morning after breakfast, well some milk and some old granola bars, Chad nodded to Jared and motioned to Tom.

“Ahm, Tom,” Jared started. Tom looked up still chewing his bar. “We should make a plan.”

“What do you mean,” Tom asked irritated.

“Chad and Gen are thinking about going to Uncle Jim until… well maybe forever. And Tammy, she needs help and more important she needs a home and not a camper.  
So, we’re going to start looking for those tickets and then…”

“She doesn’t have a ticket,” Tom said pointing at Gen.

Jared felt a growing tension between Tom, Chad and Gen. Tom had even asked Jared why Gen was still with them and not with her family or in her little apartment. Jared told him that he was happy she stayed with them because Tammy had always liked her and she seemed less tense around Gen. Jared didn’t mentioned that Gen hadn’t talked to her family for the last three years or that her apartment house no longer existed.

“Her name is Gen and she’s pregnant,” Chad returned coldly. “I’ll get her a ticket!”

“Pregnant? How?” Tom looked annoyed, “You’re not even married!”

“Oh, Tom!” Gen answered with slight annoyance in her voice. “You don’t have to be married to get pregnant.” 

“You told me you wanted to go into the army,” Tom reminded Jared.  
“Yes, I still want to,” Jared answered, “but I need to get Tammy somewhere safe and then I can join the army.” 

“I’m not sure about leaving. I need to think about it,” Tom said. He got up and disappeared again until late afternoon.

~*~

Tom walked up to Chad and Jared. They were carefully digging through Chad’s home.

“Okay, I don’t want to stay behind,” he motioned to the empty court and the destroyed homes. 

“I’ll go with you.” Tom looked over the empty yard to his destroyed home “I can finish school in Amerigo. I can still become a teacher.” 

Jared hugged his cousin. These people around him were the only family he had left.

~*~

It looked and felt as though things became more bearable, after they had set their goal, after they made up their minds to, finally, leave Cambria. They talked to their priest, since they wanted to burn their family together. After Jared spread their parent’s ashes in their garden and at the beach, keeping some to take with him to Amerigo, it felt like they had closed the saddest chapter of their lives. 

They continued to search the ruins of their homes for the things they needed like warm clothing, food, money and most important the flight tickets Aunt Ruth said they’d purchased. 

Chad found a radio that still worked and the news didn’t sound good. The whole broadcasting system had changed, where music radio had been, there was now some ‘Government information channel’ that spilled propaganda and called for volunteers to join the army. Sometimes the radio was right out lying. 

Jared tried to contact Uncle Jim in Amerigo. But, since, most of the telephone systems were destroyed as were most of the cell towers, it was hard to find a working phone. Even if the radio claimed phones, electricity and water worked. They weren’t. 

It was two weeks after the attack when Jared, finally, found a working phone. Old Mrs. Barstow had an even older phone and she allowed her neighbors and friends to use it. Jared had memorized his uncle’s number and dialed with shaking fingers. He heard some crackling and then a gruff voice, “Hello!” 

“Uncle Jim? It’s Jared.”

“Jared, thank Mithras! Are you all okay? I couldn’t get through to anyone!” The gruff was gone, instead all Jared heard was relief and still lingering worries.

“Tom, Chad, his girlfriend, Gen, and Tammy are fine. We were at the beach, well Chad, Tom, Gen and I were, and then when we…”

“Jared, Jared, slow down, son,” his uncle soothed, “I get it. You kids are okay. What about your parents?”

“They… I found… they…” Jared couldn’t do it anymore. He had tried to be strong and hold it together for Tammy, but now here with the phone pressed to his ear, truly facing, for the first time, all that had happened… he just couldn’t say it.

Resolutely, Mrs. Barstow took the phone. Jared hadn’t even seen her enter the living room.

“Hello? My name in Olivia Barstow. I’m a neighbor of the Padalecki’s.” Her voice was clear and matter-of-fact, “I’m sorry to tell you that Ruth and her husband, as well as Justin and Jennifer, Jerome and Megan were killed in the bombings. The children have already held their funeral. Their ashes were spread yesterday.” 

With that Mrs. Barstow handed the phone back to a slightly stunned and crying Jared, and walked back out closing the door behind her.

“Jared! Jared! Are you there?” He heard the desperate voice of his uncle coming through the phone. 

“Yes, sir. I’m here. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t get there in time to save them…” Jared sobbed into the phone. 

“Jared, listen, boy,” the gruff, but patient voice of his uncle cut through his tears “I want you, Tammy, Chad and his girl – Gen – and Tom here pronto. They say in the news it will be worse before it gets better. Take the flight tickets Ruth bought. Don’t go on a ship. You hear me? Don’t try to get here by ship. It’s too dangerous.”

“Yes, sir,” Jared answered even if he hadn’t listened to most of what his uncle just said. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

The civil war raging in Brith was all over the news. The good thing about being the President’s National Refugee Advisor was that within a week Jensen had, not only, an office right in the neighborhood of the Congressional building, he also had the first four people he wanted on his staff. 

Misha Collins would be responsible for coordinating the housing and placement of refugees. Steve Carlson would coordinate the NGOs and government where necessary. Chris Kane would work with the Secret Service because they were worried as hell that among the refugees would be radicals who wanted to destabilize Amerigo. And Danneel Harris would handle the PR. 

The first few days were quite uneventful. The first war refugees that arrived at the airport looked just like some tourists. But after the destruction of the Brycgstow Airport and after the Heliodromus overtook and closed more and more airports in Cambria and all other occupied parts of Brith, the refugees that were able to fly to Amerigo became fewer and fewer. The Heliodromus wanted the country closed so no one would be able to leave or enter. 

Only a small part of Cambria around the town of Aberon in north and Caerdydd in the south remained unoccupied. What angered Jensen was that the people in Cei Newydd or Goodwick didn’t know they were closed in by the Heliodromus. And the government in Brith had no intention of telling them, in order to avoid panic and a mass exodus of the people trapped in both areas. 

The first refugees that made it to Amerigo arrived in an old fishing boat. _The Salmon_ , 25 to 30 feet long and filled with 20 refugees that arrived in White Sand, a little town on the border to Markland. The weather during their crossing had been good, the food had been enough and everybody was healthy. But it was the middle of September and the weather wouldn’t stay that way. 

It also seemed to Jensen that after _The Salmon_ made it safely across the ocean, other ships saw it as a signal that they would also be able to make their way to the safe ports of Amerigo as well. 

~*~

If Jared didn’t think too much about it, he could pretend they were on a weekend trip instead of fleeing their homeland and the only lives they’d ever known. It was a one hour drive to Goodwick where they would board a ferry to Eire. It was, again, a sunny day and the road to Goodwick was a coastal highway and Jared usually enjoyed driving it. They found the airline tickets in a safe along with 3,000 in cash. They still needed to buy a ticket for Gen, but now with having the money their parent’s left, it wouldn’t be a problem. 

Jared also tried to pack as many mementos and photos as possible along their clothes and other necessities. Even with so much destroyed it wasn’t easy to pack everything in just two small suitcases and leave all the other things behind.

Jared knew they couldn’t stay, the autumn was coming and Jared couldn’t let Tammy live in a camper during the winter with no heating or running water. Tammy still hadn’t spoken a word. He, Chad, Tom and Gen were taking turns trying to make her smile and maybe coax a word out of her. So far, they weren’t lucky. She only pressed her teddy bear to her heart. Jared was desperate, but there wasn’t much he could do. 

On their way to Goodwick they heard the, now, familiar noise of sirens. Cei Newydd had been attacked one more time. That time the planes attacked the northern parts of their town, including the train station and the harbor. It frightened Tammy even more and destroyed each tiny improvement she might have made. 

Jared stopped his car. They all got out except for Tammy and looked up at the sky. There were ten planes that were headed south, probably to attack Caerdydd, then there was a smaller group that was headed towards them.

“We need to hide,” Chad called to Jared who looked franticly around, but there wasn’t much around on the open road where they _could_ hide.

“Get in the car,” Jared ordered and they all jumped back in. Jared pressed the gas pedal down and took off down the highway. A few minutes later Gen, who’d kept her eye on the planes, let out a huff of relief, “They changed course. They’re heading towards Cei Newydd.”

Home, but away from them. Jared didn’t know if he should be relieved that they changed direction or if he should fear for his hometown. 

“Try to call Mrs. Barstow and warn them,” he said handing his cell phone to Tom, who after a little fumbling with it, told Mrs. Barstow about the approaching bombers. 

Half an hour later they reached Goodwick. And Goodwick was overrun by refugees, it’s streets filled with cars and crowds of people. Maybe Jared was naïve. He’d expected to find the town the same as the last time he’d been there, but the town was a nut house. Goodwick was a small town and the only thing special about it was that there was a ferry line to Eire.

The population of Goodwick was around 2,000 people but now there were at least 3,000 refugees like Jared and his family that wanted to get on board a ferry and leave the country. 

Jared’s plan had been simple, sell his car, buy the tickets for the ferry and be on the way to Eire by tomorrow. The plan was good, only too many other people had exactly the same plan. After several hours, Chad found them a room where they could stay. It was a small, smelly B&B and they had to share two rooms and the bathroom with the entire floor. 

Tammy sat on the bed, silent tears were running down her cheeks and Jared felt terrible. Maybe he should go back home with her.

“You can’t go back,” Gen told him, she held Tammy and stroked her hair. “There’s nothing left for you. We need to get to Amerigo. Tammy needs you.”

Jared took a deep breath; he knew he had to keep it together for Tammy.

“I’ll go see if I can sell my car,” He told Gen and Tammy. He kissed his sister on the cheek and left the room.

~*~

There were approximately twenty men sitting on a couch and several unmatched chairs in a barely lit basement.

“Hail, Mithras.” One of the men said, standing up.

“Hail, Mithras.” All the others answered.

“Our troops are winning and soon Cambria will be the newest addition to Mithras’ Old Order.” He continued looking around, “Hail, Mithras.” 

“But that is just the beginning. Today, I received an order from The Pater. Heliodromus needs to go to Amerigo. So many misguided brothers are living there and we need to remind them of the Old Order. Any ideas?”

A hand was slowly raised.

~*~

It was dark outside when Jared returned to the B&B. He was still, or again, in a bad mood. The car dealer had offered much less than his car was worth but, under these circumstances he knew he was lucky that he got an offer at all. The dealer would have to take the car to Brycgstow or even Hat Batha in order to sell it. 

Chad and Tom were still gone and Jared brought Tammy’s favorite food, a burger and fries. His sister looked at Jared with big eyes and then climbed into his lap and started eating. This was the most action she had shown since Jared pulled her out from under the table. Maybe the change really _was_ good for Tammy, a new start, not tainted with the memory of death and destruction. There was a knock at the door just before Chad and Tom came back in.

“I told you Jared is clever and would get us something to eat,” Chad told Tom and helped himself to a burger and a coke. 

“Could you get us a ferry ride to Eire,” Jared asked between two bites. 

Chad’s face fell a little bit. “Yeah, about that, we can get the tickets,” he took another bite of his burger, “but we won’t be able to leave for ten days…”

“You’re kidding,” Jared asked shocked.

“I also have some bad news, or well, not exactly bad news…” Tom interjected. Chad and Jared motioned for him to continue.

“I checked our tickets and while they don’t have a precise date, they expire in four days…”

No! That couldn’t be true! Jared was lost, maybe they could sell the tickets. Buy new ones once they reached Eire. But he’d heard the price for airline tickets had sky rocketed.

“So,” Chad said noticing Jared’s distress. “I started to look for alternatives.” 

“What do you mean,” Gen asked.

“Do you remember Charles Sanders?”

“From High School,” Jared asked nodding. “Yeah, he moved away…”

“Yep, that’s him. He moved here _and_ he has a sail boat! He’ll take us to Eire,” Chad ended smiling, smugly satisfied with himself.

“In a sail boat? Chad have you lost your mind? Do you know how dangerous that can be?” Gen asked. 

Chad had the grace to look a little guilty but defended his proposal, “Charles told me, he often sailed to Eire with his dad and if the wind is good we could reach Eire before the ferry.”

Jared was thinking, “I know how to sail, so I could help Charles. I also know Charles…we were… friends, he was never careless. If he offers to take us to Eire, I’m sure he could do it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Charles sail boat, _The Horizon_ , was a nice eighteen footer. It was meant for weekend trips with families, not for evacuating five people with so much luggage. It was a little bit cramped under deck with their suitcases, backpack and duffel bags and six people on board. 

But the weather was still nice, it was sunny and they could all be on deck. Jared loved the ocean and couldn’t help himself when he started enjoying their transfer to Eire. He sat with Tammy on deck and pointed out Sea Gulls and seals. She seemed more relaxed and Jared hoped to Mithras she would be fine again. 

Jared didn’t know what gave him the idea and he wasn’t a good singer, but he thought it would help Tammy. So, he just started to softly sing one of her favorites.  
_“Row, row, row your boat,_  
Gently down the stream.  
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,  
Life is but a dream.”

Chad and Gen looked at him inquiringly but just joined in on the next round.  
_“Row, row, row your boat,_  
Gently down the stream.  
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,  
Life is but a dream.”

It nearly took Jared’s breath away when he could hear his little sister also humming along.

Three hours off shore, the wind became colder and everybody except Jared and Charles went below deck. Gen didn’t feel quite well, due to either being sea sick or because of her pregnancy, no one knew but she wanted to lay down a little bit.

“How are we doing,” Jared asked Charles.

“Pretty good, the wind is perfect and if nothing bad happens we’ll make it to Eire in four more hours.”

“Have you ever been there,” Jared asked.

“A couple of times. Why?”

“We have flight tickets to Amerigo, but they expire in three days, so we have to get to the airport of Baile Átha Cliath as fast as possible or we’ll lose our flights.”

Charles nodded his understanding. “It shouldn’t be a problem, Jared. You only have to register at the harbour master’s office, maybe show your tickets and then you can leave. I would advise that you take the train from Waes Fjord station to the airport. It’s a common, busy route and should get you to the airport by tomorrow afternoon.”

“That would give us enough time to catch a flight,” Jared mused. “What about you Charles? Will you go back or will you stay in Eire?”

“I’ve heard so many horror stories from the refugees about what Heliodromus is doing to people who don’t seem to agree with them, so,” he gave Jared a small smile, “maybe I’ll check out my chances in Eire.”

“Horror stories?” 

“Yeah,” Charles adjusted his direction, “they reinstalled the consecration steps, banished all girls and women from Mithras services and reinstalled the Old Order.”

“What?” Jared truly could not believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, you heard me,” Charles let out a frustrated sigh, “first born girls may be killed, girls are no longer allowed to go to school,” he huffed, “second class citizen may still sound too nice for that kind of treatment.”

Jared swallowed hard, “Anything else?” 

Charles looked straight into Jared’s eyes and stepped closer, “They wouldn’t like us, Jared. They don’t accept women, but they accept love between two men even less.”  
Jared and Charles had been together for a very short time in high school before Charles moved to Goodwick. 

“They killed my boyfriend, Nick,” Charles continued, “he was up north in Deva. He joined the army several months ago and his CO betrayed our government and changed sides. Then his former brothers-in-arms told Heliodromus that he was gay. They stoned him to death, Jared! Stoned! Can you believe it?” Charles shut his eyes for a moment to calm himself. “You’re doing the right thing, Jared.”

“Oh, Mithras! I’m so sorry!” Jared exclaimed. 

“Jared, look, Nick always said that the solidarity and the team spirit in the army, among his fellow soldiers was the best thing he ever experienced. They betrayed him,” Charles eyes watered as he remembered. “They betrayed him and then killed him. So, you, my friend, are doing the right thing by going to Amerigo and taking care of your little sister … much wiser than staying in Brith and seeking revenge.”

Jared was shocked. Of course, he’d heard some horror stories about how old fashioned Heliodromus beliefs were, but he never expected a betrayal of his faith running so deep.

Jared had always believed that since two of the Seven Consecration Steps had been Groom and Soldier, that Mithras was more than okay with one man loving another. That was also what his priest had explained him, when Jared realized he liked women and men. 

Maybe joining the army wasn’t such great idea; apparently, you couldn’t trust your fellow soldiers. Well, it wasn’t his priority now. Now he had to get his family unharmed and healthy to Amerigo. 

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Jared said reaching out and putting his hand on Charles forearm.

“Thank you, Jared. You were always a good friend.” He leaned forward and pressed a little kiss on Jared’s cheek. “Take care of your little sister, she needs you.” 

Jared gave him a small surprised smile and turned around to go below. On the way down he met Tom, “How’s Gen? Is she still sick,” Jared asked. 

Tom gave him a weired look, “She’s doing better.” 

Jared nodded and went to look for Tammy. 

True to his word, Charles got them safely to Waes Fjord. Saying good-bye to Charles left Jared feeling like he was saying good-bye to his former life. He found himself wondering if he could have stayed with Charles on board _The Horizon_.

~*~

It was late afternoon but the harbour master’s office was still open.

“Oh, no! Not more of those rundown corbies,” the man mumbled under his breath, but it was still easy to hear. 

Jared was taken aback. Never before had he experienced so much hostility towards himself just because he came from Brith. “Corbies” was an abusive term to describe people from Brith. In older times, the people who followed Mithras had a crow tattooed somewhere on their body, hence the name. Nowadays the tattoo was replaced by a necklace, ring or some kind of jewellery. Only the Old Order and The Heliodromus had all Seven Consecration Steps tattooed into their skin.

“What can I do for you,” he asked flatly, very unfriendly.

“We just arrived on a private boat, we would like to register and if you could give us directions to the train station we’ll be on our way,” Jared said coolly handing him their passports.

“I need to see your flight tickets.”

Jared rummaged through his backpack and had to empty it until he found the tickets. 

“Yes, yes, that seems in order,” the harbour master muttered. “The next train leaving Waes Fjord station to BAC airport is in four hours. Now, get your garbage off my counter and leave,” he added rudely. Jared put the tickets in his backpack and repacked his belongings as fast as he could. He nodded his thanks and left with his family trailing behind him.

The train station held the charm of old times, it reminded Jared of an old black and white movie he once watched with his parents. The station was crowded and he had to push through the masses to make it to the ticket counters. Even before he reached them he heard the announcement from the PA system, _“We are only allowed to sell tickets for BAC to people who have a valid flight ticket or hotel reservation. Baile Átha Cliath and its airport are closed to refugees due to the fact that they are both overcrowded. You are free to buy a ticket to any other city or country.”_

“Why can’t we buy a ticket to BAC,” a man a couple of years older than Jared screamed in the direction of the counter. He had a woman and two kids with him.  
“Because there are already too many of you fucking Corbies here,” A clerk from behind the counter yelled back.

“I have tickets,” Jared called, he almost felt bad when he saw the devastated look in the man’s eyes. The crowd parted and let Jared and his family through. Jared knew he had to buy five tickets but only had four airline tickets. He prayed to Mithras that no one would see through his little trick.

“Hi,” Jared said a little breathlessly, “I need five tickets to BAC airport.” 

“I need to see your tickets, sir.” 

Jared dug through his backpack again. _Why didn’t he put the tickets somewhere he could find them easily?_ Again, the entire contents of his backpack were spread on the counter before he found the tickets. He showed them to the man and held them in a way so they looked like there were five tickets.

“Get you stuff off my counter! The train will leave in three hours. Have a good trip,” the man said handing Jared the five train tickets. As Jared struggled to return everything to his backpack Tom stepped up offering, “Here let me help you.” Tom put the flight tickets in his inside pocket and held the backpack open so Jared could put everything in there faster. 

The train was a late night train and Jared hoped they could sleep on board at least for the almost four hours it took the train to reach the airport.

Their little group reached BAC airport in the early hours of the morning. Dead on their feet they walked into the brightly lit airport at 2 a.m. Tammy was shaking in Jared’s arms, so Chad had to carry Tammy’s little suitcase. 

Again, the airport was crowded. Jared had never minded crowds, but slowly a dislike started to form. Of course, there wasn’t anyone at the airline counter at 2 a.m. so they found a spot in the large terminal where they could sleep. The last thing Jared thought before he slipped into an uneasy sleep was, “Thank Mithras we made it.”


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Pater,” the deep voice asked with respect.

“Yes, we hear you,” came the answer through the phone.

“The Miles is on his way to Amerigo.”

“That’s good. Amerigo is our next goal. After we conquer Brith we will take on Amerigo.”

“Yes, Pater.” As the man spoke into the phone, he sometimes wondered if he would ever rise high enough to meet The Pater, but he hoped for it.

_“We want The Miles to leave a trail of destruction in this condemned land. They don’t follow the Old Order. Our true brothers have to report to a woman! We want her destroyed as a bright signal to our followers. Our time is coming.”_

With that the call ended and the man was prouder than ever before that The Pater had talked to him so long and in such detail. Maybe he would be called to rise another step. His next step would be The Leo, the lion. On, yes, he would be a lion for Mithras. And, yes, The Pater was right! They needed a signal in Amerigo to let the true believers know that the Old Order was on their way!

~*~

Had Jensen known how much of his time would be taken up with useless meetings he’d have chosen someone just to take them. It frustrated him no end that he was tied up in meetings about refugees instead of being able to help them. Thank Mithras, that his team, at least, were helping where needed and getting things done. 

For two hours Jensen had been stuck in a meeting with the Secret Agency. To his surprise, Kim Rhodes, the High Priestess was also there. 

“Last, but not least, we have new information on Heliodromus,” Pellegrino told them. “We were told that an increasing number of violent members of the Old Order are on their way to Amerigo. These so called…” Pellegrino looked at his notice, “Miles are trained terrorists and their main goal is to destabilize our society before Heliodromus can start attacking us. 

“You, High Priestess,” he turned to Rhodes, “should consider yourself a target, for whatever action they have planned. We all know what the Old Order thinks of women.”

“How can we help you,” Jensen asked. As a soldier he knew enough to know what was expected of him and how he could help. 

“Yes,” Pellegrino nodded, “for now, just get the incoming refugees into some kind of arrival point location. Get them all registered before they leave so we can keep track of who’s coming in.”

“Okay, we can do that.” Jensen agreed making a mental note to inform Lindberg to obtain some facial recognition software to make registration more complete. 

“That’s it for now,” Mark informed them all, finally ending the meeting. “Jensen? Let’s meet again, in two days, see how the registration is going. Would that work for you?”

“Yeah,” Jensen nodded, “that works.” Knowing there was info on a credible threat moved tightening the registration process to a higher priority. Jensen would have to put Kane on it to get more information on what and who the threat might be.

Jensen and Kim rode down the elevator together. 

“You don’t seem too concerned about the fact that the Old Order may have made you out to be a potential target ma´am.” Jensen said.

“Don’t ma´am me Jensen, call me Kim.”

“Okay ma´ …. I mean Kim.”

“So, Jensen, I’m seeing you all over the news lately.” She gave him an encouraging smile, “You’re doing a really good job for the refugees.”

“Thank you,” Jensen answered politely. They’d reached the foyer and exited continuing on the street where Jensen’s car was waiting. 

“If there is a way we…” Kim started as they left the building but didn’t finish as a loud explosion disturbed the quiet day. Jensen immediately covered Kim, pushing her down to the ground. Looking around he saw that a car, about half a block away was engulfed in flames. The peaceful afternoon was shattered.

Kane was suddenly running toward them, pushing both Kim and Jensen down again, covering them with his body.

“Let’s get out of here,” he urged pulling them both to their feet and pushing them toward the waiting car.

“Shouldn’t we go back and talk to Pellegrino,” Rhodes asked breathlessly.

“No, they have enough to do. Stay with me,” Jensen explained. “Chris? The car,” he pointed behind them. 

“Car bomb. We’re working on it,” he glanced at his friend through the rearview as he started the car. “But I don’t think they wanted to hit one of you.”

Jensen wasn’t sure that was any kind of consolation, it meant that if it was the Old Order, then their poison was already starting to spread in Amerigo, too.

Jensen’s office wasn’t far, actually it was walking distance, but with the bomb going off not two blocks away it felt safer to go by car. Plus, Jeff assigned Chris to him for security reasons and if ever there was one, this was it. 

When they reached the office Misha Collins came running out to them. “Thank Mithras! We were worried about you.”

“We were far enough away,” Jensen took the messages the receptionist handed him, “Meeting in ten,” he ordered matter-of-factly, “and can someone please take the High Priestess where she needs to go.”

The next day Heliodromus confirmed via phone calls to several national newspapers their responsibility for the car bomb. Thank Mithras that no one was hurt, but Jensen knew it would be only a matter of time before someone _was_ hurt in an attack by Heliodromus.

~*~

It was early in the morning when Jared was awakened by Gen. The counter for their airline had opened and a flight leaving within the hour for Amerigo was announced. They started to gather their things, when Jared looked around and asked, “Where’s Tom?”

“He went to the bathroom,” Chad answered, “he should be back any minute.” 

As time ticked by and the line in front of the counter got longer, Tom still hadn’t come back.

“Where is he? We need to check in,” Jared asked desperately as he walked in circles around their group.

_“Please proceed to the gate for flight AA705 to Vonstreuben, DC.”_

Tom came running toward them his shirt was rumpled, he was bleeding from his nose and his lip was split. 

“Tom! Where have you been?” Jared asked running towards his cousin taking in his appearance, asked, “What happened?”

“I was in the restroom and then…” Tom started slowly.

“What?” Nerves and anxiety made Chad almost scream at Tom.

“I was attacked. Someone hit me over the head, I just came to.”

A cold dread climbed up Jared’s spine, he asked as cool headed as he could, “Where are our tickets? We need to check in.”

“And I still need to buy a ticket for Gen,” Chad added he pushed to his feet and collected their belongings.

“Hurry up, we need to go,” he continued handing Jared his suitcase. Jared took his sister’s hand and headed towards the counter.

Tom patted his jacket. “Th…they ro…robbed me… the tickets are gone,” Tom whispered still standing by his suitcase.

Jared felt his world came to a sudden halt. He gasped in a deep breath. “What are you talking about?”

“The tickets. They’re gone,” Tom explained looking at the ground, “they must’ve taken them while I was out.” 

“We need to go to the police,” Jared said with frantic determination, “maybe they can find whoever did this!” 

They had to find those tickets. 

They had to get their tickets back! 

They didn’t have enough money to buy new ones for all five of them. 

_“Last call for boarding flight AA705.”_

Somehow Jared had the feeling their tickets were on that flight.

~*~

Going to the police proved to be a disaster. After Tom explained what had happened, they checked the surveillance cameras, but couldn’t find anything useful on the recordings. The airline only confirmed that four reserved tickets were used, but didn’t offer any names.

“What are we going to do now,” Gen asked with tears welling up in her eyes. It was getting dark outside and Jared had lost all hope that they would get their tickets back or refunded. 

“How much money do we have left,” Jared asked. It was a little bit strange to ask that question. Before … everything, before the last few weeks he never had to worry about money. 

“I still have the 3.000 we found in the safe, but that’s it,” Chad said. “I wanted to use it to buy a ticket for Gen.” 

Jared nodded.

“They took all my money along with the tickets,” Tom mumbled. 

“I’ve only got 1.500,” Jared said, “that’s, by far, not enough to buy five new tickets.”

Jared closed his eyes. _What should he do?_ He had to get his family safely to Amerigo. He was the oldest, even if only by two months and it was his responsibility. If it was only for himself he would consider going back to Charles and staying with him on his boat. He could help ferry other refugees from Brith to Eire, but Jared had to think about Tammy and Gen. He had been so sure that after they made it here in time, they would be safe. Now, it looked like they were stranded.

“Sir?” A voice asked. Jared opened his eyes. There were four policemen surrounding them.

“Yes?” Maybe they caught the thief; maybe they would get some kind of refund, maybe…

“As we understand it, you no longer have any valid tickets for this flight.” The taller policeman said looking over their group.

“Yes,” Jared answered, “they were stolen.”

“So you say,” the second officer said.

“Then, we’re sorry,” the tall officer explained, “but you’ll have to leave the airport. There’s a new order that only people of Brith with valid tickets are allowed to remain in the terminal.”

“Since you no longer have any tickets, if you ever had them,” the second officer sneered, “you’ll have to go.” 

“What? Where should we go,” Jared asked shocked at the blatant meanness of the second cop.

“Honestly, I don’t care just as long as you leave in the next fifteen minutes,” the second cop grumbled.

“And if we refuse to leave,” Chad asked, standing up.

“We have a nice holding cell for little troublemakers like you and child care would love to take a little girl as pretty as she is,” the cop answered, the third and fourth officers stepped closer to back him up.

The third cop, he was almost as tall as Jared, reached out to pat Tammy’s hair. “I would take YOU home and look after you myself,” he said in a lust-filled voice. 

Jared was up and next to his sister in an instant. “Don’t touch her!” He pushed Tammy behind him. “We’ll leave. You don’t touch her, again.”

The officer looked a little bit disappointed, “I only want to offer my help. Wouldn’t mind taking you along, too.” His smile was anything but kind, “We three could have a lot of fun together.”

Jared was shocked, never had anyone so blatantly asked for …what? Sexual favors in exchange for a safe stay? And from someone that was supposed to protect them?

“Cut it out, Marvin,” the tall cop stepped forward. He looked over the group, “You need to show us your flight tickets or you must leave. BAC is crowded and we have to keep order. We need to remove all loitering people.”

Jared nodded to Chad and Tom to get their luggage. They set off, again, to make their way back to the train station. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

They spent a terrible night at the cold train station. There weren’t any vacancies at the nearby hotels or B&B’s. Jared covered Tammy in his warmest jacket and made her a “bed” with some other clothes. His main objective was keeping his sister warm. She was crying again, silent tears were running down her cheeks and Jared cursed his luck. Someone robbing them of their tickets is just something he’d never thought about. Due to that experience he, Chad and Tom took turns standing guard while the others slept. 

The next morning they had an unsatisfying and very expensive breakfast in the only restaurant in the station. They watched the news about all the refugees in Eire. Several broadcasts showed interviews urging the refugees to go back to their homes or move to - No one seemed to care where the refugees went as long as they left Eire as soon as possible. 

Only Amerigo seemed willing to take in more people. Jared wondered if the people in Eire realized that he would have never left his home, if the war hadn’t forced him. Eire had started to build camps for the refugees. Eire authorities started to transfer refugees without tickets or relatives in Eire. Refugees from Brith were no longer allowed to travel across the country without tickets for either a plane or ship leaving the country. 

Jared knew they couldn’t risk getting sent to a camp. If that happened they wouldn’t be able to leave there, again. But they also learned from the news that in Roscam many refugees were able to catch a ship giving passage to Amerigo. They didn’t say anything about prices, but Jared knew he couldn’t afford flight tickets, so, maybe going by ship was the solution. At least, it was a plan and better than hanging around the train station any longer where it was only a question of time until they were picked up and transported to one of those dreaded camps.

Getting to Roscam proved to be more difficult than expected. They didn’t want to sell train tickets to refugees anymore. Instead, they called authorities to have them taken to a camp. Jared and his family made a fast exit through a backdoor. Well as fast as they could with their luggage. How would they get to Roscam? Jared looked up and down the street as if the answer was somewhere there.

“And now,” Tom asked.

“I don’t know,” Jared confessed.

“How can you not know? You are the patriarch! You have to know…”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting you to get robbed!” Jared retorted sharply. 

“Hey corbies!” A dirty little man approached them, preventing an escalation of Jared’s and Tom’s argument.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation at the train station,” he moved closer to them, “and I might have a solution for you.”

Gen moved closer to Chad taking his hand and Tammy gripped her teddy tighter, obviously feeling uneasy with the guy’s approach.

“How?” Tom asked stepping closer.

“I have a van and for a little money, I could drive you all up to Roscam. If you’re interested be here in two hours.” The man gave them a card with an address on it. “Fifty for each one to be paid in advance. Clear?” He gave them a little salute before turning and heading down the street.

Because they were out of alternatives the five of them were at the named address at the specified time. Before they got there they had to lose some of their luggage, it was just too much to carry around. It would have been okay if they would have made it to the plane but now they had to get rid of some of their stuff. Now Jared and his sister just shared the large backpack, Gen and Chad managed to cram their stuff into one suitcase and Tom had put all of his belongings in one duffle bag. 

Jared felt terrible leaving their small belongings behind but there was no way they could carry around so much suitcases and bags.

The storage house was old and rundown and they were not alone. At least forty other refugees were there along with a small seven and half ton van without windows or seats. 

“Okay, this is how this gonna work,” the dirty little man told everybody. “You pay fifty per person and I drive you to Roscam. It’s a two and a half hour drive. You should be okay in there,” he jerked his thumb toward the open van.

“What? You want us all in there, Jared asked shocked. “With no window, no fresh air?” It seemed he voiced the concern of many others around him.

“I don’t even want you in my country, boy, the man told Jared with a sneer. “Nobody forced you to come here, but I can tell you, there will be a raid for corbies like you in the city tonight.” 

The first refugee quietly paid their money and climbed in the back. Jared looked at his family. Chad looked uncertain, Tom looked angry, like this was Jared’s fault all over again, but Gen and Tammy just looked frightened. Jared knew he had to make a decision. 

“Gen and Tammy, I know you’re afraid, but we need to get to Roscam and I don’t know if we’ll get another chance like this. You’ve seen they won’t sell us any tickets, I’m sorry, but this is our best shot.”

With a nod Gen climbed on board. Chad followed pulling Gen tight against him. Jared handed Chad the suitcase and backpack before doing the same with his sister as she clung to her bear. Tom was sandwiched between them.

It was hell!

Two of the worst hours Jared ever had to endure.

It was dark, they all had to stand, the air was sticky and Tammy along with other kids started to cry after only three minutes. Jared held Tammy in his arms. She was shaking and crying and, too late, Jared remembered that this probably reminded Tammy of her time under the table with their dead mother. 

“Tammy, just close your eyes,” Jared soothed. “Do you remember last year? Your birthday? We had a big picnic in the park and there was a clown and…”

Jared couldn’t tell later what he told Tammy, he was trying anything to get her to stop crying. 

After more than three hours the van stopped. It was three in the morning, and they, finally, stopped at a rest area outside of Roscam.

“This is the nearest I dare to take you,” their driver shouted, herding them all out of the van. “They control vans for trafficking people. Walk in that direction,” he pointed down a dark road, “for an hour and you’ll reach Roscam.”

With that he hopped back in his van and drove away. 

Dead tired on their feet they were on their way, again, but this time, at least, they were headed toward Roscam. Jared hoped they would be able to get a hotel room. He really wanted to take a shower and change. As they walked through the night Jared had a moment to wonder how much his life had changed over the past four or five weeks. 

Back then he’d been a student, about to graduate college and start working in the family business. Now he was a homeless refugee with nothing more than a backpack and the clothes on his back.

Roscam had always been the harbor for emigration to Amerigo. Two hundred years ago, during the major emigration, Roscam had been THE HARBOR. Today, Roscam relived a kind of renaissance with the war raging in Brith and so many refugees looking for a way out. 

Jared had, after a nap, left his exhausted friends in a little motel between the train station and the harbor. It was old and used, but the beds were good and the water, hot. Jared showered and changed. It wasn’t that Jared was less tired than his friends, he had tried to sleep, but there were too many things on his mind to find sleep. 

Jared could only guess how hard their escape was on Chad and Gen and their relationship. Thank Mithras, Gen had, so far, not been plagued with morning sickness or any of the other physical things that came with pregnancy, but Jared was clear on the fact that he couldn’t count on it, that it would stay that way. And then, didn’t pregnant woman need some kind of special vitamins and stuff like that? Jared made a mental note to talk to Chad or, better yet, Gen about it. So, since he couldn’t sleep, he left Chad a note, telling him he was out looking for a passage on a ship. 

Jared had grown up by the sea and knew a little bit about ships. He also knew the estimated time to cross the ocean to Amerigo was something between 7 and 14 days. Maybe there’s a cruise chip that had change into the ferry business? Reaching the harbor, he started to walk along the pier, checking for departing ships and ticket prices. 

The result was devastating. All the cruise ships were sold out for three months! They didn’t have the money to stay that long in the motel and then pay for passage, too. His head spun trying to think of ways to get his family to Amerigo. He had no idea what to do.

He left the passenger area and walked to where the cargo ships were berthed. They were off loading a large container ship. Maybe… he could find work for himself, Chad and Tom on board a cargo ship? It could pay for their passage or, at least, part of it? Certainly something to think about…

It was way past midnight when Jared made his way back to the motel. He had noted the names of half a dozen cargo ships and after he talked to Chad and Tom in the morning he was going to apply there. It felt good to have a plan, make the next step, and make a decision. The worst part for him, so far, had been not having any real choices, but being ordered around, like it happened at the train station or the airport. Being limited to only one way, to have other people deciding for him, for his family was a truly frightening experience.

“You want us to do what,” Tom asked the next morning during another sadly unsatisfying breakfast that contained only some fruit loops type cereal and milk.

“I don’t want us to have to do this,” Jared started, “but we’re running out of options here. Do you have any idea how much a passage costs? We don’t have enough money, Tom,” Jared defended his proposal, “but if we work…” 

“I don’t want to nitpick, but Jared we know nothing about working on a cargo ship and we have to bring Gen and Tammy along, are you sure someone will take all of us on? We could put Tammy and Gen on a cruise ship and follow as soon as we find a way to pay for our passage,” Chad chipped in. 

“No, we all go or no one goes!” Gen said and her expression left no room for discussion. 

Since Chad had never been the smartest he started to argue, “Gen, you would be…”

“No, Chad, I won’t leave you. We are a family! Just no!” And a little bit quieter she added, “I can’t leave you behind, you’re all I have.”

Chad went over to Gen and hugged and kissed her tenderly. “Okay, baby.”

“No!” Tom almost jumped to his feet. “I’m studying to become a teacher and now you want me to work on a boat! No! Mithras be damned, we have money! Let Uncle Jim mail us some money! I’ll not work on a cargo ship! You and your stupid idea to go to Amerigo, we should have stayed in Cei Newydd!” 

Jared looked speechlessly at his cousin, he knew none of this had been a fun weekend trip and a lot of things hadn’t gone the way they had planned. But he thought, hoped that they were all content with his decisions.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“No, Jared, you did good, great even, you found us a way to make it to Eire together,” Chad said and looked darkly at Tom, “You are an ungrateful brat. You lost the flight tickets and now you blame this on Jared…”

“It wasn’t my fault I was robbed…” Tom threw in.

“And it wasn’t Jared fault either,” Chad concluded. 

Tom looked angrily from Jared to Chad and Gen.

“’I will _not_ work as a Jack,” Tom hissed at Jared before he stormed out of their motel room. 

Jared sighed, “Chad if he doesn’t want to do it, I don’t know what to do, money transfer is unsafe and I thought we would use that money for a start in Amerigo… I thought it was a good idea…” Jared trailed off.

“It _is_ a good idea,” Chad confirmed, “and I say, we two look for a job on a cargo ship and if Tom really wants to, he can stay here and we’ll send him money once we make it to Uncle Jim’s.” Chad clapped his cousin on the shoulder and Jared nodded, he even managed a small smile.

“And by the way, I think you do a fantastic job as our patriarch given the circumstances.”  
Jared was surprised by Chad’s last statement. He had never seen himself that way. 

“Thanks, Chad that means a lot to me.” 

Since the motel didn’t allow overseas calls, Jared went looking for a public telephone booth. He wanted to tell Uncle Jim about the stolen tickets and that they were now looking for passage on a cargo ship, but as the call finally went through it only connected to the answering machine. So, Jared left his message as fast as he could outlining their plan before the answering machine cut the line. 

~*~

_“You told me it wouldn’t be a problem to get a passage to Amerigo, but all the cruise ships are booked out,”_ The Miles said into the phone. The Leo could hear how upset he was over this set back.

“Do you have a back-up plan, Miles?” 

He could hear a sigh and then, _“ Yes.”_

“Stay under the radar,” The Leo advised. “The Pater wants you to be able to get close. Our offensive will start soon, so be careful.”

_“I hear and follow.”_ And with that The Miles ended the call.

Good, The Leo thought, another chess piece would soon be in place. The impact would be tremendous and he could only admire how well planned The Pater had everything.

~*~

Of course, Jared and his family weren’t the only ones that had discovered cargo ships as a less expensive way to get to Amerigo. All ships that just crossed the ocean would take on refugees, including fishing boats and private yachts. But Jared knew that could be a bad decision. The weather had changed and it was now always raining and cold. Out on the ocean the weather would be even harsher. 

_The Carlos_ was a cargo ship that would leave for Amerigo in two days. Jared would have preferred to have a little more time to gather information and to find out more about the captain and the crew, but he just didn’t have it. Tom had begrudgingly agreed to come with them, but still didn’t want to work on board the ship. So, Jared paid for passage for Tammy, Gen and Tom. Each ticket was 1,400 leaving them with, basically, no money. 

But Jared figured that once they made it to Amerigo they just had to contact Uncle Jim to pick them up and all would be well. At least, that was his hope. One problem at a time. Right now, they were on board _The Carlos_ and on their way to Amerigo. 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

Jensen knew he was a workaholic or, at least, became very attached to his tasks. The only hobby he allowed himself was his classic car. It had been, and still mostly was, a piece of junk, his old ´67 Chevy Impala, but for Jensen it had been love at first sight. 

It was rusty, the motor didn’t run, and a family of little grey mice lived in the upholstery. But Jensen found a fantastic garage in his neighborhood, and after talking to the owner, he had a new home for his Baby, where he could work on her and make her pretty again. 

He had his own corner where he could work and if he needed help he could ask Jim Beaver. Jim was the grumpy owner of the garage and he and Jensen had bonded over homemade apple pie lovingly baked by Jim’s wife, and doing research on the internet to find original parts for Jensen’s Baby.

Jim and his wife, Selma, had kind of adopted Jensen. It was something he never expected, but it happened. At least twice a week Jensen would come home to find containers of homemade food and pie sent by Selma, “To spoil her hard working boy,” as she put it. It always brought a smile to his face.

His own parents had died in a car accident when he was twenty-eight. And he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that he loved being spoiled by these good people. 

It was Jensen’s plan to work every weekend and 2 or 3 days during the week on his Baby, and so far he was able to do just that. Then he became the National Refugee Advisor and all that nice planning went to hell. Today, was the first day in two months that he’d found the time to change his suit for work coveralls, and go to the garage to work on his car again. 

So, on this Saturday, he didn’t only bring back the food containers from the last two weeks, he also brought an original radio and tape deck he found for Baby. Now, it was time to see if it fit. He knew he wasn’t working methodically on his car, he’d started with the motor, then worked on the upholstery. He found Mr. and Mrs. Mouse and their four babies a nice new home in a park. Now, he was working on the radio. It was his hobby and his Baby, so he didn’t mind if it took twice as long. 

“Jensen, my boy,” Jim greeted him, “good to see you _in person,_ again.”

“Hi, Jim!” Jensen returned the greeting clapping the older man on the shoulder “Would you give these,” he reached for the containers, “back to Selma?” He smiled wryly, “You know, if I batted for your team, I’d ask her to marry me. I’d get fat,” he patted his stomach, “but I would have a very happy life.” 

“You can tell her yourself later. She’ll be over after she’s done working at the center.” With a growing number of refugees and some with no family in Amerigo, the refugee centers became a necessity. 

“It’s really great that we’ve got someone like Selma helping out,” Jensen replied. “A good friend of mine, Misha Collins, he’s the one setting up all the refugee centers.”

“He’s doing a good job then,” Jim answered.

Jensen was very proud of the work Misha had already accomplished. While not his idea, he did play a major part in getting so many to volunteer at the centers. They needed a lot of help handing out food, playing with the kids and sometimes just holding a hand when some of the memories were just too bad to talk about. Volunteers like Selma were just what they needed.

Jensen felt so comfortable sitting with Jim in his office sipping the man’s signature coffee and waiting for Selma to return, that he had the strong feeling he wouldn’t get much work done on his baby. 

He had seen the family altar before, but never paid much attention to it. But now it was wrapped in black ribbons and six figures, representing obviously family members, were wrapped in grey sheets. Jim followed Jensen’s line of sight to the little altar. 

“I had family in Cambria,” Jim started, “my brothers and their wives and my sister and her husband were killed during the first air raid on Cambria.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Jensen said, what did you say when someone told you his family was killed.

Jim gave him a tight smile. “Thanks.” He took a deep sip from his mug and stared at the altar.

“Beaver isn’t a typical name from Brith,” Jensen said after a while.

“Hmmm,” Jim had been deep in thoughts and looked back at Jensen.

“By the name, I would’ve never guessed you were from Brith.” 

“I took the name of my wife when we married. My birth name is Padalecki.”

“I see.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence again, sipping coffee and watching the world go by.

“I really like it here,” Jensen confessed after a while.

“You’re welcome every time, boy. You’re doing a great job. Selma and I know how hard you work, you know you can come over every time you like, right?” 

“Yes, thanks. Do you still have family in Brith,” Jensen asked tentatively.

“Well, I have three nephews and a niece …”

“And where…have you heard from …” Jensen didn’t know how to ask.

“My oldest nephew, Jared, called about a week ago. I told him to come here. They had tickets from Eire. ”

Jim turned around and grabbed a large framed photo and showed it to Jensen. “This is Jared and his little sister, Tammy, they’re my brother, Jerome’s. This is Chad, the son of my sister, Ruth, and this good looking guy is Tom, the son of my brother, Justin.”

Jim’s voice was trembling and there was some suspicious moister in his eyes, “Jared called yesterday but we weren’t in, he left a message on the answering machine. He said their tickets were stolen and since they didn’t have much money they were looking for passage on a cargo ship. The line was terrible and I could hardly understand him and then the machine cut him off. I told him not to take a ship, that it was dangerous,” he let out a frustrated sigh, “I don’t even know the name of the damn ship!”

“Oh, wow!” Jensen shifted forward in this seat, “You’re right the cargo ships are dangerous. Did he say, in his message, what happened with the tickets?” Jensen asked trying but failing to take his eyes away from the young and joyful man that was smiling in the photo, this Jared was gorgeous. 

Jim grimaced as he put the photo back in its place, “Selma and I checked with the airline, my sister, Ruth, had given me the ticket numbers.” Jim shook his head, “We found out that their tickets were used. The airline also told us that there was a complaint about the tickets being stolen.” Jim let out a small sigh, “I wanted to buy new ones, but I couldn’t reach Jared…”

“Someone stole the tickets and used them,” Jensen interrupted.

“Yeah, as far as I know the airline didn’t really want to tell me much.”

Of course, the airline didn’t want to tell; they were very careful not to sell any tickets to members of the Old Order or Heliodromus but it looked like they didn’t care about checking if the right person was using the ticket. 

Jensen made a mental note to mention this loophole to Chris.  
His eyes drifted back to the photo of Jared and his sister and Jim followed his line of sight. A sad little smile played around his lips when he said, “You two would like each other.” He took a deep breath as if he’d suddenly came to a decision. “Here take the photo of Jared and Tammy, so you know what and who you’re working for.”

He didn’t really get any work done. Half an hour later Selma came back and insisted on inviting Jensen for lunch, when she included pie, he was too much of a gentleman to deny this wonderful woman or to ignore pie. 

~*~

That Saturday that Jensen spent with his surrogate family was the last nice Indian summer day. The weather was changing. The middle of October brought more rain and a bigger temperature drop. 

But the weather didn’t stop the refugees from crossing the ocean. Quite the contrary, the number of people trying to cross only increased. The government troops of Brith fought back and had freed some towns from the Old Order. But they left only burned ground behind and the terror that was reported by the survivors didn’t help either. 

With so many people still fleeing Brith and crossing over to Amerigo, a disaster would soon happen. And it occurred on a Tuesday. The boat wasn’t fit for crossing the ocean and there were far too many people on board. The boat overturned and more than 100 men, women and children drowned in the cold water before Markland. 

It was the first disaster but by far not the last. The people were desperate, their homes gone and their country at war, they had nothing more to lose and Eire was hard on the refugees, wanting them out of their country. 

Pictures of people in life jackets frozen to death; whole families dying on their way to a peaceful life, sold for profit by ruthless gangs trafficking people. People in Amerigo were furious. Not only were their families dying in a senseless war in Brith, now the evening news delivered photos of drowned children on a daily basis..

The first time Jensen saw those pictures he was deeply moved, he took out the picture of Jared and Tammy and hoped and prayed that they were on a save route to Amerigo. He knew he had an important job, but he saw why he needed to do more. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he would get a call from Morgan and he only had to wait until the next morning for the call to the Round office again.

“Jensen, we have a problem,” President Morgan greeted his friend.

“Only one, Mr. President?”

“Well, only one where it concerns you. You saw the photos? He looked over at Jensen: “Well, hell, everyone saw the photos. His voice rose in anger, “Those people are dying out there, Jensen! In our front yard!. You’re Navy! Hell, I’m Navy! We need to do something!”

“With all due respect, sir, so far my concern has been with the refugees who actually made it to Amerigo. Going out there with the Navy to save people,” Jensen grimaced, “it’s sends the wrong message. It’s really more for the Coast Guard.” 

“Yes, Jensen, I know and they do what they can, but they need a bigger backup to deal with so many refugees.”

“And you think the National Refugee Advisor could cross the ocean and pick them up…”

“No! We won’t start any kind of ferry thing with Brith or Eire. The international relationship with both countries is difficult enough, but if their ships are in trouble we need to be there to help. Jensen,” Jeff clapped his friend on the shoulder, “I know only the Navy has the resources to pull this off, but I don’t want the them in charge of this operation. I want you to coordinate this.” 

“Jeff, Mr. President, this is huge, I don’t know if…”

“Jensen, please you are the right man for this job, don’t make me beg.”

Jensen sighed, “I… Jeff, I need to talk to my team.”

~*~

“So President Morgan wants us to organize the sea rescue,” Misha asked after Jensen had explained President Morgan’s request to him, Chris and Danneel.

“He would put the necessary military resources at our command,” Jensen clarified. 

“Wow! That is …huge!” Misha said. “If you pull this off, you’ll be putting your name up for the next election.” 

“And, if I fail I’ll be _persona non grata_ ,” Jensen scoffed. “And, yeah, it’s huge and I’ll need your help. I need people I can rely on and I know you already have a lot on your plate. So, we’re in,” Jensen asked.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” Chris said. “The president has asked us. And, really, We’d just be starting to help a little bit earlier.”

Within the next few days, they developed a strategy to secure the territorial waters, shamelessly using the resources of the Navy that were now at their disposal. It helped that Jensen, Chris and Steve Carlson were retired navy men themselves. It worked; at least in the beginning they were able to save some people from boats not truly fit to cross the ocean. 

But then the so called dinghy ferry started. It became known as the Refugee Rescue. They patrolled the waters on the lookout for unscrupulous captains that would force the refugees into the ocean in dinghies and send them in the direction of the coast. It was much easier that way for the captains, because it saved them time and money and the poor people on board were in no position to argue with them. 


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jensen was on his way to an opening of a new refugee center. Misha joined him and since housing was starting to become an issue, the government encouraged people to open their homes to the refugees. It was the latest of Misha’s ideas and he was very pleased with himself for coming up with it. He only needed to advertise it a little bit more. 

Their car pulled up in front of the new building in New Amsterdam. Since New Amsterdam had one of the largest harbors on the east coast many people from Brith arrived there.

The press was there, camera teams and a large crowd of people flanked the entrance waiting for the official opening. Many of the people were holding signs showing their support and welcoming refugees. 

As they left the car, the press swarmed them. As he walked towards the entrance Misha started to explain, “This house, the new center, used to be an old …” 

Suddenly, there was an explosion. They felt the heat of the blast.

Jensen found himself unexpectedly on the ground.

He could only hear a high-pitched ringing.

He looked around. Where was Misha?

He had been right next to him.

There was so much smoke.

Suddenly, there were people pulling at him and half carrying him into the center. 

“Where is Misha,” he asked.

Then he saw three men carrying Misha, his face was bloody and he seemed unconscious, then everything went dark. 

~*~

Jensen woke up gradually. 

First, he felt the comfortable bed he was in and he felt the pleasant buzz that strong pain relievers left behind. Then, he heard Chris and Steve whispering but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. The ringing in his ears hadn’t completely vanished.

“Where am I,” he croaked, his voice hoarse.

“Jensen! You’re awake!” Jensen saw Chris’s face appearing and vanishing.  
“I’ll call a doctor.”

Then was Steve there. He looked deeply troubled, “Hey, there! Good to see your ugly face again.”

“What happened,” Jensen asked.

“There was a suicide bomber and Heliodromus confessed to sending a,” he looked at a piece of paper, “a… someone called Miles.”

Jensen’s brows rose slightly, “Miles?” He rubbed his hand over his mouth in thought, “How’s Misha?” 

“He hit his head when the blast knocked…” Steve started but was interrupted by the entrance of a young doctor. 

“Oh! Mr. Ackles, I’m Doctor Harper, a wiry gray-haired man entered with a smile. “Sorry to interrupt,” he nodded to Steve and then looked over at his patient, “So, Mr. Ackles, you’ve got a nasty concussion and to answer your next question, Mr. Collins is next door. He just woke up and also has a concussion ,” Dr. Harper explained while he checked Jensen’s pupil reaction, ears and reflexes. Then he declared, to Jensen’s surprise, that he was fit to leave, as long as he rested. 

By this time, Chris was back, a cell phone pressed to his ear, “Yes, sir… yes Mr. President – Jensen,” he handed the phone to his friend, “President Morgan.”

A little confused Jensen reached out and took the phone, “Sir.”

“Jensen, are you okay,” he heard Jeffrey’s voice, the President sounded concerned.  
“I’m okay I guess. The doctor told me I’m free to go home.”

“Good. I talked to Chris. Everything’s arranged. There’s a helicopter waiting for you to take you back to Vonstreuben”

“Okay, thank you, sir,” Jensen said still a little bit confused. 

Steve Carlson came back carrying a fresh suit and a shirt.  
“Here,” he said to Jensen, “this should fit you.”

“What? Why,” Jensen asked, not that he didn’t want to leave the hospital but what was the rush?

“You can’t walk out of here wearing this night gown,” Steve explained patiently.  
“Will Misha come back with us,” Jensen asked.

“Yeah, we think it would be safer,” Chris said.

Jensen slipped from the bed and stripped off the hospital gown, quickly putting on the fresh shirt. In minutes he was in the suit. “I’m ready.” 

“Okay, Jensen,” Chris explained seriously, “I’ll give you a complete briefing as soon as we’re in the chopper back to Vonstreuben, but until then, no comment and keep your head down.” 

Jensen wanted to ask what he meant, but when Steve opened the door he saw the chaos beyond. 

Jensen had been in enough combat zones and military hospitals to know and recognize the outcome of an attack. He was about to turn around and ask Chris what the hell was going on but a nurse pushed him out of the way.

“Room 1225 is free,” the nurse shouted, “we can put some people in here!”

So that was why he was allowed to leave. Rooms were desperately needed for more wounded. 

Suddenly, Jensen was flanked by two cops that escorted him to his car. Misha joined them, looking pale and shaky. His right eye was badly bruised and he had a nice line of stitches over it. 

“How you doin’,” Jensen asked as they hurried along, Misha just nodded so Jensen took it as his way of saying, _I can walk, but I feel like shit_.

Ten minutes later, they were in the air and Chris finally found the time to explain. “Today at 1200, Heliodromus launched six terror attacks aimed at federal buildings as well as the high temple. At least 25 people were killed that we know of, so far, and more than 150 people were hurt. And Jensen,” he looked sympathetically at his friend, “Rhodes was killed by a suicide bomber in the Vonstreuben temple.”

“Sonovabitch!” Jensen looked out the window and, honestly, just wanted to hit something. He and Kim had become friends, he respected her, she was a good woman and a good priest. He’d miss her. Many would. He let out a long breath as his body started to feel the painkillers started to wear off. It made him a bit nauseous. It must have shown on his face, because Steve handed him some aspirin and Chris pressed a bottle of water in his hand.

“Take these,” Steve urged “the President wants you at the White House for the press conference and you need to look as good as you can.”

“Then you’ll need something stronger than that,” Misha remarked dryly.

~*~

Jensen had seen his share of press conferences, but since Jeff won the election, none of his other press conferences had been this big.

It looked like every news station, every newspaper and every radio station had sent at least two reporters. Jensen was standing in the background, showing his support for whatever Morgan was about to say and looking as good as could be expected.

Morgan had hugged him when he entered the round office, his relief at seeing that Jensen was all right was obvious. Now, he walked up to the podium addressing the entire room.

“Today our nation was the target of a cowardly attack. Some of you might think we were naïve not to expect an attack, and I understand that many of you are afraid. Some of you might even want me to close our borders to our brothers and sisters fleeing from Brith. I tell you we are stronger and better than that. We will fight and we will win.”

~*~

Two days later Jensen was at the White House in a briefing with Chris, Mark Pellegrino, General Kurt Fuller and President Morgan. He had taken the last day off at the President’s urging, but he felt better now. Chris insisted that he attend this meeting. He’d covered for Jensen as far as he could but this was too important to miss.

“We have confirmed information,” Pellegrino explained, “that at least six more of what are called ‘Miles’ who are, essentially, assassins, are here in Amerigo, with the order to execute further terrorist attacks. The problem is,” he looked from the president to Fuller, “that as long as we don’t close our borders there is always the chance that new Miles will be sent.”

The president nodded as he considered the gravity of what Pellegrino had just explained. He turned to Fuller, “How is Brith doing, now?” General Fuller rose to his feet, “It is hard to say, but our intelligence reports that Cambria and Caledonia are still held by the Old Order and Heliodromus. The government troops have so far been unable to reconquer their lost territory.”

Morgan breathed out a sigh of frustration, “Any suggestions,” he asked looking around.

“As long as there is a war the people will flee to a safe country,” Jensen finally waded in to the discussion, “closing out borders won’t help unless we want dead children on the evening news. We have to fight the problem not the symptoms.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

_The Carlos_ was a large container ship with a regular crew that was 25, but, now, it increased to 30 since Chad and Jared, as well as twins, a boy and girl, named Theo and Dora both fifteen. Their family had been executed by Heliodromus because they weren’t followers of Mithras. The second family, Donnelly was a couple with four kids between the ages of four and ten.

Thanks to some creative placement of the containers, the crew had created a room where the passengers and additional crew members were supposed to stay. Tammy was frightened of this place. It was dark and cold, there were no portholes to look out just old rusty steel. Since there were no windows, you couldn’t see the ocean. It made the movement of the ship a little bit unpredictable and the four little kids were seasick for the first five days. 

The first unpleasant surprise came on the very first day. They had boarded _The Carlos_ around noon. Jared and Chad helped Tammy and Gen get as comfortable as possible, choosing one corner for their sleeping bags and what little luggage they still had.. Tom complained that they didn’t have a cabin or a bed and told everyone that would listen, that he was a passenger and should be treated as a guest. 

Jared’s shift would start at midnight and end at 4 a.m., so he had some time to kill. He knew that supper was usually served at 6 p.m. Around that time Jared went to find the mess, he had Tammy by the hand and tried to orientate himself to his new surroundings. As they were searching for the mess, a seaman suddenly stepped in their way, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the mess, we want to…” Jared started.

“One’s working, one gets food. If you’re not working you have to pay for your food.”

“But, we paid already,” Jared objected.

“Yes,” the seaman nodded, “Captain said you paid for passage, but if you want food you gotta pay.”

Furious, Jared turned around and walked back to their ‘room’. This was exactly what he feared. It was why he wanted more information on the captain and the crew, before stepping on board. Tammy tugged on his hand, her eyes were big and shiny with tears and her stomach grumbled. 

“Yes, Sweetheart, I know you’re hungry,” he soothed, “but we need to talk to the others.”

As they entered the room his anger just grew. How dare the crew try to rob them of what little money they had left.

“They won’t give us food,” Jared said so everybody heard him.

“What are you talking about,” Chad asked stepping closer as did the Mr. Donnelly and the twins. 

“I was just told that the passengers have to pay for the food,” Jared repeated.

“Yes, that’s right. 400 for adults and 200 for kids,” Tom informed them wandering slowly closer. 

“How do you know this,” Chad asked.

“Well, I was hungry and went to the mess,” Tom leaned against the wall, “they told me exactly the same as you, Jared.”

“And you didn’t find it necessary to inform us,” Chad asked again. Jared heard the irritation in his voice. And Chad was usually quite calm with Tom.

“You know, now,” Tom answered. 

The twins and Mr. Donnelly walked away. The twins because it didn’t concerned them; they were both deck hands and Mr. Donnelly probably to count money. 

“So, we need another thousand,” Jared concluded. 

“Well, I paid already for my food,” Tom said, dismissively and held out a bracelet that said “PAID”.

“How? I thought they took all your money when you were robbed at BAC,” Jared asked as a really bad feeling spread through him. 

“I took the money you were hiding and …”

“You did what,” Jared roared, “Tom that was all the money we had left! How could you!”.

“If I told you before, we would have the same conversation and then come to the conclusion that we need to spend the money for my food…” Tom defended himself.

“What about Tammy and Gen? How are we going to pay for their food,” Jared asked, he was trying to stay calm, even if he really wanted to punch Tom.

“You’ll figure something out,” Tom dismissed the fact that he had taken the last money and left them with the problem of scraping 600 together for Gen and Tammy.

Jared just snapped and punched Tom in the face, but before the situation could escalade any further Gen said, “ENOUGH!”

She had sat by and listened, now she got up and said, “I have an idea.”

She reached under her shirt and pulled a necklace out. Attached to the necklace was a crow with spread wings. The whole thing was quite large, golden with ruby eyes and just a monster thing of jewelry. It was amazing that she’d hid it so well.

“This is pure gold,” Gen explained, “the eyes are rubies and on the wing tips are diamonds. It should be more than enough to pay for the food for Tammy and me.”. 

“Why didn’t you pay for your ticket yourself,” Tom asked angrily. 

“It never really came up, all right,” Gen answered Tom, “and I didn’t want to leave Chad.”

“Gen the crow is from your grand ma…” Chad started.

“Yes, and it’s ugly and heavy and I never wanted to have it in the first place, let alone wear it,” Gen finished for him.

“Jared,” Gen asked him. “could you talk to the captain and offer him the necklace as a payment?” 

With a nod Jared took the crow and went to find the captain.

~*~

Jared knocked on the door leading to the captain’s cabin. 

“Come in,” the captain called through the closed door.

Jared opened the door and stepped in. The name plate said, ‘Captain Fredric Lehne’. The man was sitting in his chair behind his desk. 

“Ah, Mr. Padalecki, right? Anything I can help you with?” 

“Yes, sir.” Best strategy was to play nice Jared decided, “I wasn’t aware that we had to pay for our meals.”

“Only passengers, son, the crew gets their meals.”

“Yes sir, thank you,” Jared shifted on his feet, “but my sister and my friend, Gen, need to eat, too.”

“Oh! I see,” the captain gave him a smile that was anything but pleasant. “Well, for the small amount of 600 this little problem is solved.”

“Yes,” Jared nodded, “but, sir, we don’t have that kind of money. Maybe you,” Jared pulled the necklace out of his pocket. “could consider this as payment?” 

The eyes of the captain gleamed greedily when he saw the jewelry. 

“Oohh, let me see that,” he demanded waving Jared closer. Jared carefully placed the crow before Lehne on the desk.

“Wow, that’s a very nice piece. It’s funny with you corbies, you always complain and whine and then you have something that nice up your sleeve.” He took the necklace in his hand as if to weigt it, “This is worth…three hundred.” 

“Sir! If you sell that anywhere it would be worth at least a thousand,” Jared objected.

“That might be true,” the captain grinned, “but today on my ship it is worth 300.”

“800”

“No, 300”

“600”

“No, 300”

“500?”

“Okay.” The captain conceded, “You get food for one person out this. 400 deal?”

Defeated Jared answered, “Deal.”

“So,” the captain sat back, “how do you plan to feed your precious little sister?  
Jared shuffled his feet. He had no idea how to answer.

“Let me guess,” the captain looked him over appraisingly, “you’re the family patriarch, hmm? And this is all knew for you, so much to think about.” He grinned, “What other hidden treasures are you hiding?”

Lehne let his eyes roam over Jared’s body and Jared could see the lust and the greed fighting for dominance. 

“Maybe, I could share my meals with my sister.,” Jared offered.

“No,” the captain frowned, “you will need your strength. And to take food outside of the mess is forbidden because of the rats.” He said standing up and walking around his desk. “So how do you plan to pay for her?”

“I could pay you once we reached Amerigo. I have an uncle there…”

“No, Mr. Padalecki,” Lehne shook his head sadly, “not acceptable” Captain Lehne reached out and traced Jared’s lips with his finger. “Any ideas, my pretty boy?” 

Jared backed away.

“I could,” Lehne offered, “maybe think of some alternative ways you could pay me.” 

Jared backed farther away until his back hit the wall.

“And you have no more money,” Lehne confirmed with a note of sadness in his voice that Jared didn’t feel.

Jared shook his head.

“No?” Lehne grimaced. His eyes lit up, “What about other valuables? I’d be willing to entertain other things you could sell.”

Jared shook his head again.

“And, here, I think you are wrong.” The captain slid closer to Jared, “Pretty boy like you can always find a special way to pay.” Jared shook his head, but the captain caught him under his chin, “You come here, to my cabin, every day after your shift for … let’s say one hour and that will be payment for the day. If you don’t come, your little sister stays hungry. You come and the little girl gets to eat.”

“But…” Jared was lost for words.

“Let me guess, your sister would like to eat now?”

Jared nodded.

“Well,” Lehne smiled gleefully, “you know how to pay. Since it’s only supper I think a blowjob would be appropriate.”

He pushed Jared down on his knees. Jared was desperate and had no choice. He didn’t want this. How could offering Gen’s crow necklace as payment end with him being forced to be the captain’s… the ship’s whore … a cabin boy… 

He didn’t have more time to think about it because Lehne was unbuttoning his pants. 

Maybe, maybe, just once and then Jared would talk to Chad and Tom and they would figure something out. Suddenly, there was a cock right before Jared’s face. “Oh don’t be shy,” the captain soothed, “I’m sure a pretty boy like you knows how to use his mouth.”

Jared wanted to say something but as soon as he opened his mouth, Lehne pushed his shaft in. Jared nearly gagged and tried to swallow around the cock in his mouth. It smelled ugly and tasted even worse like piss and sweat. Tears sprang to his eyes, but Lehne didn’t mind or didn’t care, he just grabbed Jared’s head and started fucking his face. 

“Yeah, yeah, pretty boy,” Lehne hissed, “that’s it, take it.”.

It felt like an eternity for Jared, Lehne ramming his cock down his throat, until he, finally, came buried so deep down Jared’s throat that he didn’t need to swallow. He held Jared a little bit longer and Jared was just about to panic because he couldn’t breathe when the bastard finally pulled out. 

“Not bad for the first time,” Lehne said zipping his pants. “Next time,” he moved to his desk, “I expect a little more engagement from you. And now get out. I’ll call the mess and let them know that you paid for today.” He threw one of the rubber bands to Jared, “Give this bracelet to your friend and she can eat as well.”

Jared rose to his feet. He felt like he was in a trance. Did this really happen? Did he really allow the captain to fuck his face? Did he allow it or had he been … what? Raped? No, Jared hadn’t fought and he could have left, right? 

So, Jared chose to stay and chose to allow Captain Lehne to do what he did. He ran to the nearest bathroom and threw up. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
“Where have you been,” Chad greeted him nearly one hour later. Jared just hadn’t been able to stop throwing up and every time he got ready to leave the restroom he remembered that Lehne expected him back at 4 a.m.

“I was a little bit seasick, I think,” Jared lied.

“How did it go with the captain? Did he accept our payment,” Chad asked. Gen and even Tammy moved closer to hear his answer. Jared couldn’t tell the truth, now, maybe later when he was alone with Chad.

“Everything’s fine,” Jared rushed, “the captain accepted the necklace for payment and here Gen,” he held out the bit of rubber, “is your bracelet. You need to wear it to get into the mess. Tammy doesn’t need one, he’ll call the mess every … every day to tell them… Tammy is allowed to eat , too.”

“Okay,” Chad said clasped his hands together, “let’s go eat.”

Jared couldn’t eat. Every time he tried to swallow his mind went back to the blowjob and what was expected of him again. He went through their belongings, searching for something of value that he could offer to the captain instead of his body. But they didn’t have anything of enough value to pass as payment.

There was no way he could sleep before his watch started. 

All of them, Mr. Donnelly, the twins, Chad and Jared had the Dog Watch from midnight to 4 a.m. Jared hoped he would find time to talk to Chad then. He got his chance when they went down to the engine room a little bit earlier. 

“Chad, about the payment…”

“Jared. Thank you.” Chad blurted, “I don’t know what we would have done if the captain didn’t accept that necklace!” 

“Well, he… uhm, do we…” 

Chad looked at him with trust, and Jared knew he couldn’t burden Chad with what happened between him and the captain. This was a sacrifice he needed to make, but also a burden he would have to carry alone, because no one should ever know about it. 

“Yeah, I’m glad it worked out,” Jared told Chad before he went to his station.

His task was simple he had to watch that the ship’s engine worked within the green range. If anything happened, he was supposed to call the head engineer. All too soon, his shift was over and he walked to the captain’s quarter. 

Maybe Lehne was asleep. It was the middle of the night, maybe he was just too tired to do anything to or with Jared. He knocked as quietly as he could and heard an immediate, “Come in.”

The captain lay naked on his bed lazily stroking his erection.

“Get undressed,” he ordered, “and on the bed on your hands and knees.”.

Jared removed his clothes and got on the bed. He was trembling, it wasn’t the first time he was about to have sex – far from it – but it was the first time he was about to have sex without wanting it.

Jared preferred to top but had bottomed often before with his last boyfriend, and that was more than a year ago. Other than casual hook ups, it hadn’t happen since, and now wasn’t the time to think about former boyfriends… 

“Good boy,” Lehne cooed, as Jared got on the high old bed. The sheets had been changed for the new tour and where old but clean “do you have any idea how hot you look?” His eyes roamed over Jared’s body, “Spread your legs.”

Jared heard the click of the lube bottle and just as quickly there were two fingers shoved into his ass. 

“I’m not good at prep,” Lehne said, as he pushed his fingers in and out of Jared, tomorrow you’ll come prepped. I can give you the lube and a plug.” Jared grunted in pain, biting down hard into the pillow. He felt Lehne move and heard the sound of a condom being ripped open, then he felt Lehne’s cock at his hole circling around the rim spreading the lube before he pushed in. Jared bit down harder on the pillow. He wasn’t aroused at all. His cock showed no interest in what was happening. Lehne pulled out a little bit and then shoved all the way back in.

“Oh pretty boy,” Lehne chuckled, “you are so tight. Are you a virgin? That would be fun. To fuck a virgin. Fuck,” the captain panted, “you feel so good.” He started moving faster and faster. 

“Come on, boy, show a little bit of enthusiasm. Move your ass,” Lehne ordered. Slowly, Jared started to push back taking Lehne deeper and deeper. Suddenly, Lehne stopped. Jared hoped it was over, but he was just shoved half off the bed and bent over. Now, Lehne was standing behind him fucking him hard and fast. As the captain neared his climax he pulled out, again, and arranged Jared on his back bending his legs back, so he was nearly folded in half. Lehne rammed his cock in again. Finally, the captain reached his climax and Jared was too shocked to feel anything.

Lehne carelessly pulled out, “Clean up and get out. I’ll see you tomorrow after your shift and don’t forget to come prepared.” With that Lehne got into bed and went to sleep. 

Jared left as quietly and quickly as he could in search of the nearest shower. He showered as long as he dared and as hot as he could he went back to their room and crawled into his sleeping bag. He reached out for Tammy, but didn’t dare to touch her, so he curled protectively around her.

~*~

The good thing about working the dog shift was that during the day he had time for Tammy. She still didn’t talk, but on good days she hummed along when Jared sang for her and she sometimes played with the Donnelly’s four kids. Jared wondered how the family had paid for their food, but he didn’t ask fearing the answer and fearing being asked in return. They sailed the northern route and it got very cold, very fast. Jared was happy that he had thought to pack their warmer clothes.

They were all on deck when it was warm enough. The relationship with Tom was still stiff. Jared blamed Tom that he had to sell his body in order to feed his sister while Tom did nothing except making friends with some of the crew. The same people that Jared had learned to distrust. Tom had the time for that since he was doing nothing to pay their way across.  
It was now the fourth day at sea. The whole trip to Amerigo would take between seven to fourteen days, depending on the sea and the weather. So, Jared expected ten days or six more times going to Lehne’s quarters.

Now, they were all standing on deck looking at the first iceberg they’d ever seen. Before his last shift, he went on deck and had seen The Aurora Borealis, the northern light. The beauty of it almost made up for what he had to do later in captain Lehne’s quarters. 

As they drifted by the iceberg, Tammy pulled at Jared’s arm pointing out to the open water. It took Jared a moment to understand what she was pointing at. There was a large black and white fin cutting through the water. Orcas! Jared wished he still had his camera. He loved to take photos and he’d been pretty good at it, too. 

He felt more than he saw some crewmen gathering behind them. They were whispering among them and pointing in their direction. Chad saw them too and nudged Jared, pointing to them, “It’s starting to get really cold out here let’s get down again.”

Jared breathed easier when they were out of sight. Chad, Gen, Tammy and Jared spent the rest of the day in the room, playing cards, reading and making plans for what they would do once they made it to Amerigo.

Shortly before midnight, Chad and Jared got up as quietly as possible and made their way to their station. It was an uneventful shift for Jared and the hardest task was to stay awake. When the next shift arrived at 4 a.m., Jared hurried to the next men’s room to prep himself. 

Lehne was already waiting for him and for the next hour Jared’s mind left his body. It was easier that way to do what Lehne wanted him to do. Somehow Jared detached his mind and it was like watching his body while Lehne fucked him against the wall and bent over the desk. After the hour was up, Jared was allowed to leave and hurried, again, to the nearest shower room.

Not for the first time, Jared wondered if this arrangement was just Captain Lehne taking the opportunity to make him his personal whore. He wondered if the captain actually preferred women or if he did this to someone on every tour. None of that really mattered and Jared was so caught up in his mind that he missed the door opening and closing. As Jared left the shower stall, he was suddenly face to face with four crewmen. It appeared they were the same ones starring at him on deck yesterday.

“I told ya the captain doesn’t lie to me,” one of them sneered, “He comes in here after the captain’s finished with him.” 

Jared backed away and tried to cover himself with the towel as well as he could.  
“Hi, Jared,” the crew man spoke again, “My friends and I heard about the arrangement you have with the captain and we want our share.” He stepped closer and reached out to pull Jared’s towel away.

.  
Jared stepped back trying to avoid the man’s hands.

“Oh, he’s playing shy,” the guy taunted Jared. 

Jared knew this wasn’t good. He needed to get out of there now. He darted to the door, but he was held by the other three. 

“Oh,” no princess, you stay,” they pulled at Jared’s towel and pushed him to his knees. Jared kicked at them and threw a few punches but he was helplessly outnumbered.

“No, no please let me go,” Jared pleaded with them, but they only laughed at him. Suddenly the door was opened and Tom appeared.

“Tom! Tom! Help me,” Jared called out and for a moment he hoped that everything would be good, but then Tom’s face morphed into a grimace of disgust. He turned and left as fast as he could.

“Tom! Tom!” Jared called after his cousin.

“Shut up, slut!” One of the crewmen said before pushing his cock into Jared’s mouth.

Jared tried to crawl backwards but there was another man kneeling behind him. 

“Oh, yeah, slut! Come on, can’t wait to get my cock in that tight ass.” And without any hesitation what so ever, he rammed into Jared’s hole. Jared’s scream was muffled by the other cock stuffed in his mouth.

“Wow! Holy Mithras! That feels amazing!” The man fucking Jared’s face pulled off, “Make him scream again,” the man slammed his cock back into Jared’s mouth.

They were pounding Jared in both ends and Jared … just gave up. 

“Hurry up, Johnson!” One of the men said, Jared couldn’t see how. With a last shove, the man came in his mouth, but before Jared could recover or catch a breath, the third guy was there pushing his erect cock into Jared’s mouth. Tears ran down Jared’s face. He wanted to get away, but they held him with an iron grip. The man fucking his ass came deep inside him a few moments later. Jared’s stomach churned as he felt the man’s release coating his insides. The last of the four took his turn on Jared’s abused ass. His laughter indicated how much he enjoyed Jared trying to buck away from him when he shoved in his bloated cock.

Jared didn’t know how his body could stand to be so violated. With another grunt the last two men came almost simultaneously. They pulled out and the four left the bathroom nearly as fast as they had entered. Jared remained on his hands and knees. Come dripped from his lips and out of his abused hole. On all fours, he crawled back into the shower trying to wash away what happened. 

The water had long run cold when Jared left the shower at almost 6 a.m. But he was so tired that he went back to the room, crawled in his sleeping back and tried to sleep. He didn’t even dare touch or hug Tammy because he still felt dirty and he didn’t want to taint the only good thing he still had left. 

He must have slipped into an uneasy sleep because Chad was, suddenly, shaking him awake. “We’re going to grab breakfast.” 

“I’m not hungry,” Jared answered trying to conceal the fact that he flinched away, when Chad touched him. 

“Are you sick,” Chad asked.

“Yeah, I don’t feel well.” _The understatement of the year._

“Okay,” Chad nodded, “we’ll take Tammy with us. You sleep it off, okay?” _If it was only that simple._

“Thanks, that would be great,” Jared answered.

He stayed in bed the whole day. Well, sleeping bag. After breakfast, Tammy crawled into his arms and curled up like a little kitten. When evening came, Chad told him the captain wanted to see him before his shift started. It took Jared a while to get his arms and legs moving, but he made it to Lehne’s quarters on time. It wasn’t that he’d been hurt as in beat up during his … attack yesterday, even if his attackers had been far from gentle. But he was sore. And it was more like his mind didn’t want to go back in his body. It was as if his mind was disgusted with what happened to his body and had just detached itself from the abomination it had become. On his knock he heard the two words he’d begun to dread, “come in.”

“Ah! Mr. Padalecki,” the captain’s slithery voice greeted him as he came through the door, “it was reported to me that you were sick…” 

It wasn’t a question and Jared didn’t know what to say, but the captain didn’t seem to expect an answer. He just continued in that same tone that was like nails on a chalkboard, “I see, you can move and can attend _all_ your duties tonight.”

Jared swallowed, that was it, Lehne just wanted to know if his toy was broken. 

“In any case, I’ve made it clear to my crew that you only pay me and I’ll not tolerate any kind of insubordination among the crew or the passengers. You may go, now, but I expect you back after your shift.”

“Yes, sir,” Jared didn’t know what to think of that until he turned around. Bound on their hands and feet, gagged and naked were his four attackers sitting on the floor. Their bloody and bruised faces showed blank terror. Jared just turned and left for his station in the engine room. It was the last time he saw them.

~*~

That strange feeling of detachment stayed with him. Jared would get up in the morning, eat breakfast, play or read to Tammy, eat lunch, read or play with Tammy, eat supper, sleep, work his shift, get fucked by Lehne, shower and sleep again before he would get up and it would start all over again. Even Tammy sensed something was wrong with him. On the second night after his attack she started to hum, “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream,” as if to calm him and tell him everything would be okay. It was after she slipped into sleep that Jared would allow himself to cry. It would take him a long time to stop, again. Every evening after that when they went to sleep, and before his shift started, Tammy would crawl in his arms and hum to him. 

Of course, Chad and Gen also saw that something was definitely wrong with him. For Jared it still felt like he was watching himself going through his routine. They tried to talk to him, but what could he say? He allowed this to happen, and now he had to live with the consequences. Tom, on the other hand, never talked to him about what he saw. In fact, they didn’t talk at all, and Jared couldn’t stand the disgust and revulsion on Tom’s face. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
Work – life – became hectic for Jensen. As President Morgan’s point man dealing with the refugee crisis he had little time for anything else. 

More than 400,000 refugees from Brith had arrived in Amerigo. Jensen got dizzy just thinking about the numbers. In real life it was 400,000 men, women and children leaving their home with just the things they could carry. 

The other problem was the terror the Old Order had been unleashed upon Amerigo. Actually, it was more Pellegrino’s problem, but since those terrorists, the so called Miles, traveled among the refugees it had also become his problem. But he found the solution for at least a part of the problem. Chad Lindberg had written a program that would register all incoming refugees via biometric scan. Basically, they would take a photo of every incoming person and one of several other physical measurements, such as fingerprints, retinal scans, voice patterns that would help ID the new residents coming into the country. The idea was, that if, now, some known Miles wanted to enter Amerigo a warn signal would show up and they could be arrested before committing their attack. 

They were installing scanners in every harbor and airport starting with Vonstreuben and New Amsterdam. 

“I really like working with you, Ackles,” Pellegrino said. They were sitting in a hotel bar in one of New Amsterdam’s larger hotels. Today, they had inaugurated the new system in the two New Amsterdam airports and at the harbor. There was quite a large turn out from the public in support of the new ID Scanners. Basically, it made everyone feel a bit safer.

“Do you think it will help,” Jensen asked, nursing his drink. He felt torn. He truly wanted to help the new immigrants, but after the death of the High Priestess he more than saw the imperative to protect his country. 

“Yeah,” Pellegrino took a sip of his drink, “I think it’s a great idea. How many people are working under you, Ackles?” 

“I have twenty in my office,” Jensen answered turning toward him. “There’s a crap load of stuff to coordinate. Misha’s doing a great job with private housing. And looking for more public space.” He spun his drink on the bar, “Alona is working with schools and colleges to coordinate transfers, get the kids tested to figure out in which grade to place the students.”

“You’re doing a great job,” Mark said and Jensen was reminded of the elevator ride with the High Priestess. 

“Thanks. Kim Rhodes told me the same,” he paused for a second, “two days before she died.” 

“Well, then, if two such different people say the same thing you know it’s true. So, what’s up next for you?” 

Jensen knows this game. Mark keeps shooting questions at him so it isn’t obvious that he’s not saying anything about himself. 

“Tomorrow,” he flagged the bartender for a fresh drink, “I’m taking a large delegation of press with camera crew on board a coast guard ship.” He looked up at the surprised sound he heard from Pellegrino, “You know the situation with the refugees, well, I don’t have to tell you that it’s gotten worse on ships coming across and the dinghy ferry?”

Of course Mark knew, but the question game could go in both directions. And it was true, what had started with one cargo ship wanting to save the money on harbor dues had turned into a mafia like organization of trafficking. They would use cargo ships and to stay below the radar they would only take a small number of people. 

The crime against humanity was, they only had small dinghies that they could force the refugees into. In the last ten days, thirty-seven of them had washed up on shore, all with dead bodies in them. And, again, there were dead children on the evening news.

“Well, Jeff, I mean, President Morgan wants me to show that we’re making every effort that we can to save people but…” he trailed off.

“But you can’t save everyone, especially not when there are criminal forces at work.” 

Mark finished for him. Jensen nodded, “We have information on a particular cargo ship. The captain is known for his cruelty. It should be in our waters by tomorrow and we’ll try to catch them.” Jensen canted his head as he took his drink, “Should be a piece of cake, save the refugees and arrest the human trafficker.”

“I’m sure you’ll catch them, Jensen.” A bright self assured smile spread across Mark’s face. “You know you make a good white knight in shining armor.” 

“Oh, you think so,” Jensen smiled back.

“Oh, I know so.”

Jensen didn’t know exactly when the tenor had changed but he would recognize an innuendo when he heard one. 

“So you think you know,” he asked leaning back in his lounge chair. 

“Yes, Jensen, I know.” He stood up and took the last of his drink, “Let’s get out of here.”

Without further ado they paid their tab and headed for the elevator. Mark let Jensen enter first and he pushed the button for his floor.

When Jensen took the keycard out of its slot, Mark was already nuzzling his neck, which made it really hard for Jensen to concentrate on opening the damn door. After far too many tries he finally managed it. They stumbled in Jensen’s room and as soon as the door closed behind them Mark started to undress Jensen. Jensen pushed Mark’s shirt out of the way and opened his pants.  
“Oh! Mithras,” Mark moaned in Jensen’s ear “I want to fuck you so badly.”

Not the most eloquent line, but Jensen was very much on board with the idea behind it. 

“Yeah, top drawer,” Mark smiled as he kept Jensen in a liplock and fished around for lube and condoms. Mark pushed Jensen onto the bed and settled between his legs, hands sliding up the soft skin of his inner thighs. Jensen groaned softly and squirmed, spreading his legs wider in an unspoken invitation. 

Mark had lubed up two of his fingers, circling Jensen’s hole, rubbing around the rim, pushing in a little bit, teasing Jensen.

“I never thought you’re the playful type,” Jensen couldn’t help himself from teasing. 

“It depends on what I’m up to and sometimes I like to play for hours,” Mark responded and finally pushed two slick fingers inside him. 

Jensen pushed down on them, it felt good, _so good_. Sometimes pleasure with a little bit of pain was the best. Mark finger fucked Jensen hard and fast. 

“More, Mark come on, I won’t break, fuck me already,” Jensen commanded. That he liked to bottom, didn’t mean he was, in any way, submissive.

“In a minute,” Mark answered sounding a little bit breathless. He opened the condom and rolled it on. Jensen felt Mark’s cock at his opening and then he slowly pressed in. Mark didn’t stop after the first breach he just kept pushing in, filling Jensen. He only stopped when he bottomed out, giving them both a second to catch their breath.  
“Are you okay,” he asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… move damnit!”

Mark pulled out and quickly pushed in again, fucking Jensen mercilessly. 

_Yes! That’s it_ , Jensen thought, _a good old fashion fuck_. He wrapped his legs around Mark’s waist, pulling him in deeper, urging him on. He knew they wouldn’t last long, both of them were too hungry for release. 

Mark took Jensen’s flushed erection in hand, stroking it in a counter movement of his hips. Jensen squeezed his muscles around Mark’s cock in him and came with a groan, spurting come between their bodies. Mark didn’t need much longer after that, he pushed two, three more times and came with a deep grunt of satisfaction.. 

They weren’t the type for pillow talk. Jensen got up as soon as Mark pulled out. Rolling out of bed, he padded to the bathroom to take a shower.. When he came back into the room still drying himself, Mark was gone. On top of two ‘sick’ bags he’d left a note, “Maybe you need them tomorrow.” 

No, he wasn’t mad or disappointed in Mark, one night stands were called that for a reason. But, it left Jensen feeling a little bit shallow. He hoped, one day, that he would find someone he could share more than just one night with.

The next morning on board the _Sea Star One_ Jensen was happy he didn’t get sea sick. The _Sea Star One_ was a frigate of the Amerigo Coast Guard and one of the fastest ships in the fleet. That she was stationed in New Amsterdam was the reason she was chosen for Jensen and his group of journalists, reporters and camera teams.

At 6 a.m. they headed out to the territorial border and then up north in the direction of Markland. Jensen had a chance to talk to the ship’s captain, Roger, before they left. . Captain Rogers was an experienced seaman, a man of honor, and he had absolutely no tolerance for captains abusing their position.

The plan was to accompany the incoming cargo ship, _The Carlos_ , into New Amsterdam’s harbor. If they could force the ship to follow them into the territorial waters of Amerigo, then they could prosecute the captain and the crew. 

After six hours they finally found _The Carlos_. That was when everything went wrong.

~*~

It was the tenth day on board when Jared recognized that something had changed with the captain. He saw the change immediately. Lehne fucked him blindfolded with his hands bound to the headboard. When he was done he took a little sharp knife and cut an X over Jared’s heart.

“Just so you don’t forget me,” he said with a crazy smile on his face. Jared was suddenly reminded of the four seamen that had violated him and could suddenly understand their horror. 

After breakfast, all the ship’s passengers were told to pack their belongings, and that they would be leaving the ship. Around noon they all gathered on deck, expecting to see land, to see Amerigo for the first time. But as far as Jared could see there was only water. Chad moved closer to Jared, “I don’t like this,” he whispered, “there’s nothing in sight. Why were we told to pack?”

Jared had a suspicion, but he couldn’t voice it, he couldn’t admit another failure. His mind still didn’t want to be back in his sullen body. Suddenly, there was a commotion, some of the crew were carrying a dinghy and others were shouting and pointing south.

“Hurry up!”

“Get them in!”

“We’re in the territorial water of Amerigo!” 

“What? How the hell did that happen,” Lehne’s angry shout effectively shut everybody up.

“I asked,” he screamed, “how the hell did this happen? I cannot berth in any harbour in friggin’ Amerigo! They have a friggin’ warrant waiting for me.”

“Captain! There’s a frigate set to intercept us,” one of his men dared to speak up.

“I know! Damnit! Get us back in international waters! Fast!”

“Aye, aye, sir,” he ran away to execute his orders. 

The captain turned toward his waiting passengers, “I have some bad news. I need a distraction and I need it fast. And you’re going to help me,” he leered at the frightened faces. “I would have put you all in a dinghy and sent you in the general direction of Amerigo. But now,” he leered, “you’ll be my distraction.” He looked over the motley group. 

“You, Mr. Donnelly “ he pulled the guy roughly, “get in the dinghy, with your family, take your luggage. You there,” he turned to the two teens, hop in, love birds in,” he pushed Chad and Gen toward the dingy, “and blue eyes, you, too, in!” 

Jared took Tammy to join the others in the dinghy.

“Oh, no, not you! You stay. I need you,” Lehne said, that crazy gleam was back in his eyes. He turned away from the small boat, pushing Jared and Tammy away from the railing as he pulled out a walkie talkie. 

“Are we back in international waters,” He asked. 

_“No, sir. We need five more minutes.”_

“Okay! Get them in the damn water,” Lehne ordered. 

“What about Jared and Tammy,” Chad asked and he was suddenly looking down the barrel of a pistol.

“I said,” Lehne waved the pistol before Chad’s face, “get in the dinghy!” 

“Don’t do anything stupid. Gen needs you,” Jared reminded Chad, he handed his backpack to him. That seemed to calm Chad down. 

A crane lifted the dinghy up and overboard. Chad and Gen threw anxious looks at Jared and Tammy before their boat was lowered into the water. 

“Amerigo is in that direction,” one of the crew called after them pointing in a westerly direction. 

Tom moved to the stern where the outboard motor was. He switched it on and the dinghy headed in the pointed direction where a frigate was heading their way. 

“So,” Lehne turned back to Jared, but looked pointedly at his little sister, “and you little one, you will help me to get out of this.” His tone made Jared shudder. He pulled Tammy tighter against him.

~*~

As expected the cargo ship had lowered a barely seaworthy dinghy with too many people on board. Jensen was already in the water aboard a motorized Zodiac. He had a camera man with him set to intercept the dinghy while the _Sea Star One_ would pursue _The Carlos_. They had almost reached the inept dinghy when Jensen saw a movement on deck of the cargo ship. 

A man was holding a struggling child over the edge of the ship. 

Captain Lehne grabbed Tammy by her arm. “You see, Jared, I just need a couple more minutes, and,” he leered, “I really got use to fucking you, so I keep you. This girl,” he shook Tammy, “is useless except to buy me more time.”

And without further ado, Lehne threw Tammy overboard. 

A high pitch scream and then she was gone.

Jensen couldn’t believe what he’d seen. This bastard just threw a child over board. Just threw _a little girl_ , into the damn ocean!

“Call the _Sea Star One_ he ordered one of the sailors. “They need to pick up the dinghy and we need…” before Jensen could finish they heard a shot and then they saw a man jumping from _The Carlos_ into the ocean in a perfect dive.

Jared snapped, “Tammy! No!” This asshole had thrown Tammy over board! 

In the middle of the ocean.

In cold water.

Without a life vest! 

His little sister! 

He stepped to Lehne and punched him square in the face. A shot echoed over the deck as a warning. Lehne was pointing his gun at Jared. But Jared didn’t care, he stepped on the railing, spread his arms and jumped.

“Two Overboard! Two Overboard!” Jensen shouted. He clicked on his radio, “We’re going for the two in the water!” 

“We’ve got the dingy,” Captain Rogers answered in a deceptively calm voice.

The Zodiac veered off leaving the dinghy behind and headed toward the position where they hoped they would find the little girl and the man that went in after her. 

Ice cold water hit Jared. It took his breath away. 

He needed to get to Tammy. She could swim, but not in this! The ice cold water, even with her clothes on, would freeze her. Jared’s lifeguard training would come in handy here. He’d been good at it, and he was a strong, fast swimmer. Now, he needed all his strength to get to his little sister. He stopped for a moment and looked around the vast water.

There! He spotted her or something bobbing in the surf. Ten meter to his right. Was that Tammy’s head? 

“Tammy!” He called and then swam as fast as possible towards what he’d seen. It had to be her. 

Just before he reached her, she disappeared. In a panic he looked around, but couldn’t see her anymore. 

He took a deep breath and dived.

There, just out of his reach, there she was. Her movements were becoming less and less. She was probably out of air. With two strokes Jared could reach her. He grabbed her and swam back to the surface.

Jensen, the crew and the camera man were searching for the two people. 

Oh, Mithras! He could picture the evening news. Instead of a successful arrest and rescue mission he had two people drowning on camera!

“Over there! I think!” A young reporter called. She was pointing to her left, there was a young man with a girl in his arms. His movements were getting sluggish probably due to hypothermia or exhaustion Jensen didn’t know.

Jared had Tammy secure in his arms. She wasn’t conscious and Jared prayed to Mithras, that Chad would turn the dinghy around and look for them. He knew they didn’t have much more time until he lost conscious due to hypothermia. Then all of a sudden there was a larger boat next to him and helpful hands pulled him and Tammy on board. 

They pulled a young man and little girl on board. The little girl was unconscious and didn’t seem to be breathing. 

As soon as he was on board Jared pushed the hands away. He needed to know Tammy was okay.  
“Easy, young man,” a kind voice advised, but he needed to know how Tammy was.  
He pushed the others away and crawled over to his sister. As quickly as possible Jared checked her over. She wasn’t breathing. 

Before Jensen or anybody else could do anything the newly rescued, frantic, wet and very attractive young man had started CPR. 

On the third round Tammy suddenly coughed. Jared sat her up and she started crying. Jared hugged her to him. He wrapped his arms around her as the people around him applauded. But something wasn’t right, everything was getting dark and the world just tilted on its axis. 

Everybody was clapping and cheering happily that the rescue mission was a success when suddenly Jared’s eyes rolled back and he passed out. Jensen was just able to catch him before he hit the deck. 

The last thing Jared saw before he lost consciousness was a man peering at him with piercing green eyes.

“I need help!” Jensen yelled. He just caught a glimpse of fox tilted eyes reflecting more colors than should be allowed before they closed. , “Please don’t die,” Jensen murmured. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“Hello?”

_“I’m in Amerigo.”_

“Good I let the Pater know.”

_“Any news on my target?”_

“The Pater decided that after the successful attack on their priestess, the National Refugee Advisor will be your target. If we show them they can’t escape us, they will yield more easily. You will be contacted shortly.” 

The Leo hung up on The Miles and excitedly dialed the number he was never allowed to write down.

“The Miles made it to Amerigo.”

_“Good. Any troubles?”_ Came the reply. The voice was distorted by computer and The Leo really longed to hear, one day, the true voice of their leader. But The Pater was right. As long as they were at war no one should know his identity. 

“No, sir.”

_“He knows his target?”_

“Yes.”

_“Good! We’ll see it in the news when he is successful.”_

~*~

Jensen was driving with Misha and Chris to the White House for a press conference and was deep in thought.

It really didn’t go as planned, they didn’t catch _The “Carlos”_ or her captain, but they had refugee drama, a rescue, a little girl saved from the claws of death and a young breath-taking hero. Well, they had two of them actually, according to the media. They had the young man, Jared, and Jensen who didn’t want the title in the least. 

When Jensen had first seen the report last night about the rescue, it looked like he had single-handedly saved those refugees and rescued Jared and Tammy. Jensen felt bad for the crew of the _Sea Star One_ , but that was the story the public knew. 

Jared and Tammy were brought to the hospital. _The Carlos_ had escaped and the other refugees were safe. Jim Beaver thanked Jensen with tears in his eyes for rescuing his family. It made Jensen feel… he didn’t really know, maybe, a longing for a family of his own? 

“Please refer to my housing program, Jensen.” Misha´s voice brought Jensen back to the present and to a matter more pressing than his non-specific longing, even as he suddenly remembered a pair of multi-colored eyes.

“I need housing for 300 people, now,” Misha continued, and if Jared wasn’t staying in a hospital, he would belong to that 300.”

“No,” Jensen gently objected, “he has family here.” 

“Yes, true,” Misha nodded, “But his uncle already took three people in. I checked myself. Jim Beaver’s house is full, unless we put a tent in his garden…” Misha’s mirthful aside was not lost on Jensen. 

“A good looking boy like Jared, and being a hero at that,” Chris said grinning, “I don’t think you’ll have any problems finding a bed for him.”

Jensen threw his friend a bewildered look; he somehow felt protective of Jared and his sister and didn’t like the implications Chris made, but turned to Misha, “I’ll mention your program, promise.”

“Maybe you can do more,” Misha said, suddenly excited like he just had the best idea ever.

“What do you mean,” Jensen asked not liking the way Misha looked one bit.

“You could offer housing to Jared and his sister,” Misha suggested. “We’re really have a hard time finding housing for all these people. And I can’t even tell you the problems we have feeding so many people or getting them medical care.” Misha let out a soft sigh, “I mean, if we didn’t have so many volunteers who cook meals, drive the people to appointment and all the other little things we would be lost. So taking in a refugee as the National Refugee Advisor would be … logical.”

“What do you mean,” Jensen asked somehow Misha had lost him in his rambling.

“It would be great!” Misha’s excitement was slightly lost on Jensen. “Look,” Misha continued, “it would be a fantastic example to people to see how serious the housing problem is. They, Jared and his sister, are still in the hospital so Chris can do a background check and didn’t you say you knew his family? It would probably help them, too,” Misha ended excitedly.

“What do you think,” Jensen asked Chris.

“Sounds great to me, I´ll do a background check on them.”

“I think about it,” Jensen told Misha.

“Great,” Misha answered like Jensen had already agreed to do it.

~*~

Waking up was strange for Jared. It smelled clean and the bed under him was soft. It was quiet and that was really remarkable because in the last almost two months it had rarely been quiet. 

Maybe he should open his eyes.

He was in a hospital room, but as Jared looked around he realized it was a private room. It looked more like a hotel room than a hospital. Pale sunlight shone through the half closed blinds. At the end of his bed there were several balloons reading, ‘Get well soon’ and ‘Refugees welcome’. On almost every surface there were flowers and teddy bears also wishing him to get well again. 

Amerigo!

They made it!

But they must have made a mistake. True, he had family here, but as far as he knew, his uncle wasn’t this rich. 

The next thing he saw was Chad sitting in a chair nearby and busily checking all the channels on the mute TV. As he settled for some news channel, he turned around and saw that Jared was awake.

“Jared! Good to see you open your eyes,” Chad smiled widely. I’ll call the nurse,” he hurried to the door, “I’ll get the others, too! Chad stepped out of the room to get his family.

Not a minute later there was a soft knock on the door and a pretty woman looked in. 

“Oh! Good! You’re awake!” She breezed into the room and stood by Jared’s bed. “My name is Patty and I’m your nurse.” She started to straighten the sheets, “It will make a lot of people happy that you’ve finally woken up. How do you feel?”

“Okay, I guess,” Jared answered his voice hoarse from disuse. “Where am I? And where is my sister,Tammy?”

“You are at Vonstreuben General Hospital. Your sister is fine she is on our paediatric floors and your friend – Chad is it?” Jared nodded. “He’s getting her.” Patty looked at Jared’s monitor and made notations in his chart. She smiled over at him, “You must have been exhausted. You slept for nearly thirty hours.”

“Oh… Really? Wow!”

“Yes,” Patty smiled softly, “and Mr. Padalecki, may I add, that seeing you jump into the water after your sister, well, it was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Jared looked at her, confused, “Uhm, I, ah… I don’t understand. You saw that? How?”

“It’s all over the news, you’re famous! It was really quite amazing the way you saved your little sister,” Nurse Patty sighed deeply. “Look,” she motioned to the TV. He was startled to see footage of a little bundle thrown from a container ship and another figure jumped after. _Him and Tammy._

Jared felt sick. He remembered quite vividly what happened in the last minutes on board _The Carlos_. 

“Could you please turn it off?” 

“Yes, of course,” the nurse smiled at him. “And if you’re ready, there are some people waiting for you outside.” 

No, Jared wasn’t ready but that wasn’t an appropriate answer, so he just nodded.

Chad came back with Gen. They had big smiles on their faces and looked quiet relieved. 

“Jared, you slept long enough! Time to face reality again,” Chad teased. “We made it! We’re in Amerigo.” His cousin bent down to him and clasped him in a hug. He was laughing but, he stopped with tears in his eyes. The three hugged each other like they would never let go.

“Good to see you awake, boy!” Another voice interrupted them and the three pulled apart. Jim had Tammy by the hand and smiled at the three of them. 

“Uncle Jim!”

Jared nearly jumped out of his bed in order to show his respect for the family patriarch.

“No, no, you need your rest.” Jim stood at the bedside, ““I’m so happy you all made it here unharmed,” he said hugging Jared and pushing him back down on the bed. Tammy climbed on his bed and made herself comfortable in his arms. Telling him without words she was okay.

He was so glad his remaining family was safe and secure in Amerigo, he had to brush some tears away.

“Where is Tom? Is he okay?” Jared asked after several minutes wondering about his second cousin.

“Tom’s fine,” Chad explained, “he just hates all the attention and the press. He said he didn’t want to see his face in the news.” Jared accepted Chad’s explanation, but suspected that Tom didn’t want to see him.

There was another knock and a stranger – handsome, tall with sandy blond hair and freckles entered. He seemed vaguely familiar to Jared. He thought for a moment and suddenly remembered him from the boat. He was the one that rescued him and Tammy. His face was the last thing Jared saw.

“I remember you! You saved us,” Jared said looking with an unsure smile at the stranger. “You helped me with Tammy.” 

“I’m Jensen Ackles,” Jensen answered holding out a hand for Jared to shake, “and you saved yourself just fine.” 

Before _The Carlos_ Jared would have answered Jensen’s open smile with a dimpled one, but now just thinking about it made Jared sick to his stomach. 

“Jared, Jensen is the National Refugee Advisor,” his uncle started to explain.

“Aha …. So?” Jared asked looking at Jensen.

“Jared let me be the first to officially welcome you to Amerigo. The National Refugee Center will do everything to help you and your sister.” Jensen smiled, “You made quite an entry, young man. We were out there on the _The Sea Star One_ to demonstrate our efforts in the fight against trafficking. On board the _The Sea Star One_ and on board the Little Star were about thirty reporters and camera crews. That is why you and your rescue are in the news.”

Jared’s head hurt a little bit and he was still sleepy but so far he understood what Jensen was saying. 

“And then this whole drama with your sister happened and you rescued her and all of that in front of cameras.”

“Jared your story, our story is all over the news,” Chad said. “There are camera teams waiting for you outside, wanting to hear your side of the story.”

No! Jared didn’t want any of that, he wanted his sister and he wanted his peace, he was close to panic.

“I would like to talk to my nephew alone for a moment,” Jim said, pushing Chad and Gen out of the door and holding it open for Jensen. After he closed the door behind Jensen, he turned around looking at Jared.

“Hello, Jared!” 

Jared looked a little bit confused, but then he understood: his uncle was giving him a point to start from.

“Hello, sir.”

“I’m glad you made it. You, Chad, all of you have more than earned the right to call me Jim. I don’t see myself as the family patriarch,” Jim explained. “If the title belongs to anyone it’s you! You did a fantastic job keeping our family safe and bringing them to Amerigo. I can’t thank you enough.”

“Thank you, sir … I mean Jim. I don’t know if I did a good job… there were…” Jared trailed off not knowing how to tell Jim that he felt more like a failure than anything else.

“We can talk later, son, but I’m sure you would like to leave the hospital, right,” Jim said and Jared nodded his confirmation.

“Jensen is going to ask you to stay at is place, you and Tammy,” Jim started carefully. He knew Jensen, but Jared didn’t. “And I hate to admit it, but our little house is stuffed already with Chad, Gen and Tom. If this,” he scratched at his chin, “is something you really despise, then we will think of something else. But I know Jensen,” Jim smiled, “he’s a good man I really believe you and Tammy would be more comfortable at Jensen’s place.”

Jared’s head was hurting now, for real. “How much would it be,” he asked. 

“No, no,” Jim protested, “Jared, housing is free until you figure out what to do next.”

Jared nodded his understanding. He could do this for Tammy. Even if Jensen seemed to be nice, Jared had learned on board _The Carlos_ that nothing was ever for free.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
The drive to Jensen’s apartment was a silent one. Jensen was on the phone the entire time. They’d said good-bye to their uncle and their friends at the hospital. Jared insisted that he and Tammy didn’t need a babysitter to escort them to Jensen’s home. He was nervous about staying in someone’s private home, but didn’t want to show it. Tammy was a little bit anxious about Jensen and she missed Gen, She was used to having her around.

Arriving at the apartment complex where Jensen lived, it didn’t seem any more remarkable than the same type of places back home. “We’re here.” Jensen alighted from the car and waited while Jared got his sister out of the booster seat that they’d used for her. It was a short elevator ride up and then Jensen opened the door to his apartment. He held it open for Jared and Tammy with a small flourish.

“So, this is it,” he announced following them inside, “there’is the kitchen, living room and down the hall are the bedrooms; to the left is my bedroom and the guestroom is on the other side. Jared I can make up a bed for you in the living room.” 

“I think Tammy would prefer if she could stay with me, sir,” Jared explained looking around as Jensen directed them.

“Oh, you can drop that ‘sir’, call me Jensen, please,” he said smiling as he looked down at the little girl who was clinging to Jared and then back up at the younger man, “Okay, if you two want to share the room, that’s fine with me.”

“Thank you, sir… I mean Jensen.” 

Jared had never felt so out of his depth. Jensen’s apartment was huge. Modern, sun lit rooms with white furniture and rustic brick walls that looked like it was cut out of a home decorating magazine. The apartment was beautiful, maybe a little bit unused. 

There had been a little press conference when they left the hospital where Jensen mentioned the housing program again. He also announced, then, that he would be opening his home for Jared and his sister. After promising the press that Jared would talk to them tomorrow they left. And, now, here they were in the apartment of someone he barely knew. But, Uncle Jim said he was a good guy. So, maybe…

Jared put on a brave face, waved to the cameras, holding Tammy’s hand tight in his the entire time. The out-of-depth feeling was so familiar that its companion feeling of detachment was actually a welcome one. It was like watching an actor giving a performance that was expected of him. 

Jensen’s perfect apartment didn’t look like home, didn’t feel like home and only added to Jared’s feeling of detachment. 

“I have to go back to the office for at least two more hours.” Jensen explained. “You two,” he waved his hand around the apartment, “make yourselves comfortable, help yourself to whatever’s in the fridge. I’ll pick up pizza for dinner,” he looked from Jared to Tammy, “you both like pizza, right?”

“Yeah,” Jared nodded, “we do, thanks.” Jared’s hand never left Tammy’s. As he left, Jensen watched Jared and Tammy walk down the hall to his guest room. He was fascinated by Jared. He had handled the press earlier like a professional. He was good looking, and smart but Jensen had some trouble seeing this silent young men being the same carefree surfer boy Jim had talked about. His background check had come back clear, but, maybe, Jensen thought that the trip from Brith to Amerigo had been harder than the kid let on. He seemed older than his age but then Jensen knew that it was one of the effects of being caught up in a warzone.

~*~

Danneel organized the press conference that would feature Jared the next morning at a new refugee Center in Vonstreuben, DC. It was a stressful affair, the press nearly went mad over Jared, and Danneel had to step in to get them in order. Jared took his time answering the questions. He made some jokes about his passage and his bad choice of ship. He thanked Jensen, Misha, the president, of course, and expressed his gratitude to all the people of Amerigo. He was the perfect hero and when asked about his future, he said his first priority would be taking care of Tammy and see that she got the treatment and help she needed. After that he would like to finish his studies to become an architect. 

Jensen together with Misha and Chris stood in the background watching the “Jared-Show”.

“He’s a natural,” Misha said.

“Yeah, he is,” Jensen agreed.

“He looks good all cleaned up,” Chris chimed in.

“He really does,” Jensen answered deep in thought starring at Jared’s back. Misha and Chris exchanged a knowing grin. Jensen had a strange feeling watching Jared, it was true he was good and honest and all, but still it somehow felt like Jared was performing for them, trying to please everybody.

“One more question, then I’m sorry Jared has to go.” Danneel announced to the press.

“Are you planning on going back and fight for your country,” a young reporter asked from the back of the pack. 

“I love Brith,” Jared answered, “and I would love to fight for its freedom. But as far as I understand government has agreed to a truce with the Old Order, handing over Caledonia and Cambria. My home province, belongs to the Old Order, now. I would support any movement that tries to free Cambria again but there is none at this time. As far as I’m concerned there is no going back for me. I see my future here in Amerigo.” 

“What a nice ending,” Misha commented as he applauded along with the others. 

Jensen couldn’t hide his proud smile, Jared was great! As Danneel wrapped things up with the press corp, he exited with Jared and Tammy in tow. Once in the car he headed for one of his favourite little restaurants. It was a relaxed place and they could get to know each other a bit better. 

When they returned home that evening it was late. They’d taken a ride around Vonstreuben to see some of the sights and just unwind. Jensen watched from the door as Jared put Tammy in bed. She looked at Jared with big eyes. 

“I’m going to take a shower, okay Tammy,” he tucked her in. “I’ll be here later, okay,” he told her. She nodded tiredly and snuggled in the pillows. Jared grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. As he turned around, he stopped dead in his tracks, when he saw Jensen standing behind him. 

“Is this okay,” he asked Jensen.

“It’s no problem,” Jensen grinned and gave Tammy a wink. He looked back at Jared, “Come join me in the living room when you’re done, okay?”

Jared answered with a nod. 

Standing under the spray of warm water Jared tried to gather his thoughts. He knew, he had expected it. Jensen Ackles would want payment and he was prepared to offer it. He only wanted to keep Tammy out of it. He dried himself and looked in the mirror. As a child Jared had a comic book with a picture of a green, ugly, slimy monster and that was what he expected to see. Instead, the only visible changes were the cut above his heart and the haunted look in his eyes. Deciding to forgo a shirt he just put on a pair of jeans and went out to Jensen. 

It nearly took Jensen’s breath away when Jared joined him a little while later in the den. Jared’s hair was still wet from the shower, his jeans hung low on his hips and he hadn’t bothered with a shirt. Holy Mithras! Did this boy know that he looked like a walking wet dream?

“Jared!” Jensen managed to press out, “Would you… what do you …” his voice sounded strange to his own ears. Like a cat Jared moved over to where Jensen was sitting. Jensen couldn’t take his eyes of the man in front of him. In one swift motion Jensen was also standing. He could see a healing scar that looked like a cross over his heart and he couldn’t resist tracing it with his fingers. 

Jared hissed and Jensen could see a shiver running through him.

Then suddenly Jared dropped to his knees and started fumbling with Jensen’s pants. 

“Jared! Jared! What are you doing,” Jensen stepped away from the kneeling form in front of him, bringing some distance between them. Jensen had nothing anything against casual sex, but he needed to be careful here. Jared had been through too much for Jensen to play with him. And, he was Jensen’s guest. How would it look if the National Refugee Advisor took advantage of the refugee to whom he offered housing?

“I thought you would want me … to … pay…I mean …” Jared trailed off. He felt cold and started shaking. 

Jensen looked down at the young, half naked man kneeling before him. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around Jared. A very bad feeling creped up Jensen’s spine as he looked down on Jared. 

“Come on Jared,” Jensen stood, “get up. This is unnecessary.” 

Jared rose shakily to his feet. He kept his eyes on the carpet.

Jensen studied the young man and was at a loss as to what to say to this. He let out a long breath, “I’m not sure what happened to you that you would think I’d expect,” he sighed, “sexual service from you so that you and your sister could have a place to stay, but I don’t.” He leaned down to look at Jared, “Look at me, hmm?”

Jared raised his head. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this now. It’s been a long day. You’re just out of the hospital.” He retook his seat on the couch. “Sit,” he pointed to the cushion beside him and the two other chairs. “This was just a misunderstanding. It’s okay. How about we just watch some TV?”

When Jared nodded he looked at the places Jensen indicated that he could sit. He hesitantly sat on the other end of the couch. He gave Jensen a tired smile. He could feel his cheeks hot with embarrassment, but Jensen seemed relaxed. He settled back against the couch as his host clicked on some home improvement show. 

Watching TV was a bit strained and Jensen made a mental note to get Jared help, even if he didn’t understand what, exactly, was the problem. 

This night Jensen went to bed with the realisation that pulling Jared on board of the Little Star may have been not all it took to save him. 

Jared lay awake, he couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t afraid that Jensen would come for him. The man had been clear, he didn’t seem to want him, but he couldn’t understand what had happened. He’d seen the lust and the desire in Jensen’s eyes and he knew it was directed at him. Jared didn’t care about himself he was soiled anyhow and when Jensen had ordered him to the living room Jared had known it was time to pay again, for this place to stay and for the food to eat. But when Jensen told him to stop he didn’t understand why. Maybe because of the scar, Jensen had seen Lehne’s claim on him and he didn’t want a used ship’s whore. 

He listened to Jensen moving around and, finally, going to bed. When Jared was sure Jensen was asleep he got up and pushed a chair under the door handle, effectively barricading the door. Better safe than sorry. 

It took Jared several hours to find sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The next few days were confusing, to say the least. Jensen took Jared and Tammy to his office, to restaurants and was just generally nice to the both of them. He even drove them to Uncle Jim’s place where they had a nice family dinner with their cousins, Gen and their uncle and their aunt. 

On an intellectual level, Jared knew Jensen was a good guy and he could relax and forget about the other night. But the problem was, he was still acting, everyone wanted a happy Jared, and he could pretend. So, he just smiled and said “thank you” a lot and mentioned how grateful he was and how happy he was that they all made it to Amerigo. Only He didn’t feel it.

A week after they moved in with Jensen, Mr. Collins had another fantastic idea. Since, Jared had been such a success in front of the cameras and his and his sister’s rescue story still provided much needed good news, he planned coverage about Jared’s firsts. It included things like his first shopping trip in Amerigo, signing up for university and a few other things. Mr. Collins said that the people liked Jared and they would like to see he that he was doing well and adjusting to his new life. Since they would pay for everything, Chad persuaded him to do it.

Jared only insisted that they keep Tammy out of it. She had enough on her plate and didn’t need a TV crew following her around. So, Jared spent four days playing pretend for the cameras, until they had all the material they needed. 

The three of them, he, Jensen and Tammy, found an easy rhythm. They would have breakfast together, then they would go to Jensen’s office. Jensen worked, while Jared gave interviews or commented on the situation in Brith and Tammy played quietly during all of this. In the afternoons, they would sometimes visit his aunt and uncle and his cousins. Tom met some friends from college and now he was hanging out with them a lot. Jared suspected that Tom was still avoiding him. Finally, they received a call from the bank that the money transfer was completed and at their disposal. 

Tom voted to split the money in three parts. Chad wanted to keep their money together, so they could build something new. Jared really had no opinion at all, deep inside he knew he should tell Tom that they should keep the money together but it just was a too big effort to bother.  
In the end, to keep the peace he gave Tom 50,000. His hopes to reconcile with Tom didn’t happen. In the end, Tom just took the money and looked at Jared with distaste that bordered on hate.

Jensen had watched Jared for the past two weeks. He had tried to talk to Jared about … that first night, but Jared had blocked all his attempts. Jensen would write it off to a misunderstanding, but sometimes Jared would space out stare into nothing and Jensen had seen it happen more and more often. The night before had been especially bad. Jared had spaced out and didn’t respond when Tammy motioned to him that she wanted more ice cream. Tammy became frantic until Jared finally snapped out of his daze.

~*~

“Steve, I need a favor,” Jensen was in the office and had called Steve Carlson “can you come over?” He didn’t have to wait long for Steve to join him. “Hey,” Jensen looked up from his desk, “thanks for coming.” 

“What’s up?” Steven asked planting himself in the chair opposite Jensen.

The Refugee Advisor let out a long breath, “D’you know a good psychiatrist?” 

Steve’s brows rose in surprise, “For Tammy? Or for Jared?”

Jensen was surprised that he’d asked about Jared. “Yeah, for Tammy.” He looked away for a second, “And, yeah … maybe … for Jared too,” he added quietly. 

“Hmm. Yeah. Dr. Samantha Ferris. She’s really good, but she’s really busy.”

“Would you give her a call and get an appointment for them.”

Steve nodded, “Okay, yeah. I’ll call her, now,” he stood to leave, “I’ll see if I can get them something today or, at least, as soon as possible.”

Jensen nodded as he bit his lip, “Thanks.”

“Any time Jensen, any time.” He knocked on the door jamb as he left and headed back to his own office.

~*~

Two days later, it was, finally, the day that Tammy had her first appointment with her psychiatrist. Jensen had taken time off to drive them to the clinic, but had stayed outside. 

“Mr. Padalecki, nice to meet you in person,” she said as came out to meet them.

“Thank you, please call me Jared,” he answered shaking her hand.

The doctor leaned down and made eye contact with Tammy who was hiding behind her big brother’s leg. She smiled at the little girl, “And you must be Tammy, hmm?”

The six-year-old nodded.

The doc held out her hand, “I’m Sam,” she nodded toward what looked like a big playroom, “can you come and talk with me for a little bit?”

Tammy’s eyes opened a little wider at the room filled with toys, but clung to her brother. Jared looked from his sister to the doctor, “It’s okay, Tammy, she’s really nice,” he gave her a gentle push, “I’ll wait for you right out there,” he pointed to the door as Tammy took the doctor’s hand.

Dr. Samantha Ferris was a famous child psychiatrist and Jared liked her instantly. She reminded him of his late mother and he hoped and prayed that she would be able to give Tammy the help she needed. 

After finishing her first session with Tammy, she and stepped out to talk with Jared. 

“Okay, Jared,” the doctor took a seat across from him. “Your sister and I had a good session.” Jared looked through the window and saw Tammy playing with some blocks at a small table.

“I’ll need a bit more time,” the doctor explained, “to really assess what she’ll need, but what you’re doing is good. Keep her engaged. Play with her, talk to her. She’s been through a severe trauma.”

“The bombings were terrible,” Jared said quietly as he watched his sister.

“They were, but more importantly,” Doctor Ferris smiled as he turned to her, “she was with your mother when she died. That’s the part that is probably affecting her the most.” 

She sat back and grabbed her notes, “I talked to your cousins,” she checked her notes, “Chad and Gen, and they confirmed what you already told me, but they both said that Tammy had made progress on board of _The Carlos_ but stopped suddenly because _you_ weren’t acting like yourself.”

“I think we are here for Tammy and not for… me,” Jared answered slightly defensively, effectively blocking the unspoken question. 

“You see Jared,” she pointed through the glass to his sister playing at the table, “Tammy is recovering. She can interact with others and in my opinion it is only a matter of time until she starts talking again.”

“You, on the other hand, show signs of extreme stress.” She pointed to Jared’s bloody bitten nails and shaking legs. Jared tried to stop shaking, but it only got worse, his hands started to shake as well.

No, he couldn’t tell her, she would see what an abomination he was and she would take Tammy away. 

“Jared,” the doctor pleaded softly, “please let me help you. I _can_ help you.”

Silently, Jared shook his head.

Two things were clear to Samantha; first, Jared needed help as much as his sister, maybe more, and second, Tammy wouldn’t get better if Jared just drifted off. Like now Jared had just spaced out on her and for Tammy this was probably even more terrifying. 

In the end, Jared agreed to see Dr. Ferris two times a week right after Tammy’s appointments.

In the weeks that followed Jared was truly confused over Dr. Ferris’s worries. Of course, he understood why Tammy needed help; he just had no concept as to why he needed to talk to her. Gen and Chad were absolutely supportive when he mentioned that Dr. Ferris wanted to see him, too.

On their third or fourth meeting Jared finally found the courage to ask, “Why do you want to see me?”

“What do you mean,” the doctor looked up from her notepad.

“I´m … talking … functioning, I don’t see a reason why I need help.”

“Jared,” the doctor kept her voice even, “your family, your friends, and I, we want more for you than just to function. You are young. We want you to be happy.”

Jared stared at her, almost unable to process what she told him. They wanted him happy? He remembered being happy, but it seemed as though it was a long, long time ago. 

Then he had the worry about getting his family out of Brith. And then Lehne happened. And the four other men happened. He just wasn’t sure he still had it in him to be happy. Mithras! He wasn’t even sure he deserved to be happy after what he allowed to happen.

Samantha just sat across from him watching, observing him, and giving him time to think about it.

“Do you think Gen and Chad are happy,” she asked after several minutes had passed.

“Yes,” Jared nodded, “I think they’re happy.”

“What about Tammy,” she asked, “do you think she’s happy?”

Jared looked through the window. He could see Tammy playing with a doll house. It looked like the dolls were talking to each other.

“I hope she’s going to be happy again,” Jared answered quietly. “She deserves it.”

“And you, Jared, don’t you deserve to be happy, too?”

Jared had no answer for that question. 

As often as he could Jensen picked them up after their sessions with Dr. Ferris. And usually he took them to a nice pizza place or to the movies. It was obvious that Tammy was always very excited about their time out. Jared’s feelings about Jensen were confusing to say at least. But confusion was his new normal. And even he had to admit that confusion was better than disgust.

It took Jared another week to find he trusted Samantha enough to, finally, open up.  
“Jared you know that everything you tell me is confidential and will stay between us. But your family is worrying about you. Your cousin said you changed when you were aboard the cargo ship. What happened to you on board _The Carlos_ ,” she asked looking at Jared with kind eyes.

“I had to pay for Tammy’s food,” Jared whispered. “And Tom spent all our money for his food, Gen sold her necklace, but I didn’t have anything of value left…”  
Jared’s mind detached itself again, and suddenly it all came spilling out. He told Dr. Ferris everything that happened on board _The Carlos_ with the captain and the four crewmen.

After he finished, there was a heavy silence as Jared slowly looked up. He expected to find disgust directed at him, but the doctor was still looking at him with kind eyes. “And now, Jared, how do you feel,” she asked softly.

“Don’t know,” he shrugged, “hollow, dirty, marked. No wonder Mr. Ackles didn’t want…”

“Mr. Ackles didn’t want what, Jared?”

“Me - as payment...” he whispered.

“As payment? For what, Jared?”

“Nothing’s free, you know?” Jared looked over at the doctor and for a moment she saw a spark of defiance that quickly died, “I learned that. I had a good teacher.”

“And you think that everyone is the same,” Dr. Ferris asked matter-of-factly. “You’re a smart man, Jared. I think you know that Mr. Ackles isn’t the same as the men on that ship. They took advantage of you as they probably have others.”

“Mm,” Jared shrugged, again.

“Jared,” the doctor continued reassuringly, “I’m sure someone told you already, that you don’t have to pay for housing and more importantly a man such as Mr. Ackles would never expect uhm … sexual favours.”

“Not from a whore, that’s for sure!”

The doctor was surprised at the way Jared thought of himself. “Would it be okay if I … talk to Mr. Ackles?” 

Jared just shrugged his shoulders.

~*~

Mark Pellegrino and Christian Kane were sitting in Kane’s office. They were comparing notes and protocols for interrogations, while Chris tried to hide the bill from a teddy doctor. 

During Jared’s and Tammy’s stay in the hospital, while he was doing the background check up, he went through their only possession which happened to be a wet backpack. He didn’t find much, just some clothes, photos, pass ports and a little bit of money, a urn with ashes. At the bottom of the backpack he found a teddy bear. It looked pretty bad one of its ears was burned and it was wet and smelly, usually it would be thrown away but somehow that felt wrong. Somehow he knew it was probably the girl’s and thought it was important because it was the first thing they had put in the backpack. So, when nobody was looking, he took the bear to a teddy bear doctor and explained that he wanted it dried, cleaned and repaired. The result was – well let’s be honest – not great, but okay. The teddy didn’t come out new, but it also didn’t look like garbage anymore. He gave it back to Tammy when he returned the back pack to Jared. 

“He’s a very brave teddy,” he had whispered in her ear, “just like you.”

She didn’t say anything to him, but a little smile had graced her lips.

Ever since then she followed Chris when he was in the office and no gruff from Chris would get her to leave. She would sit silently in the corner of his office drawing pictures that she gifted to him later. He hid them in his drawer. 

Finally he was able to grab the bill without being too suspicious and put it in his top drawer. 

“Here! I found it,” Mark looked up from his briefcase in time to see Kane hiding something. “The bill from the teddy doctor?” He chuckled, “When you’re ready and finished with the toy doctor, maybe you could look at this,” Pellegrino held up a printout of a phone call.

_“Hello?”_  
“I’m in Amerigo.”  
“Good I let the Pater know.”  
“Any news on my target?”  
“The Pater decided that after the successful attack on their priestess, the National Refugee Advisor will be your target. If we show them they can’t escape us, they will yield more easily. You will be contacted shortly.” 

“Damn it,” Chris threw the printout down, “I’ll call Jensen,” Chris reached for the phone dialing the number of his friend.

~*~

Today, Jensen had driven Jared and Tammy to their appointment. He loved spending time with them and he hoped the little girl and the young man would find the help they needed here. 

But right now he was talking on his phone with Chris, _“Jensen this is serious,”_ Chris said over the phone _“Pellegrino has confirmed information that the Pater issued a killing order over you!”_

“This is nothing new, Chris,” Jensen answered. “Since these terrorist attacks started I was warned I could be a target.”

_“Yes, I get that, but it looks like the Old Order sent an assassin, a Miles, out especially to kill you!”_ Chris insisted. _“That is much more concrete than everything we’ve heard before. I’m begging you, please, stay there and let me pick you up.”_

Jensen sighed; he didn’t want to be difficult. “Okay,” he relented, “but keep it down, I don’t want you to scare Tammy.”

“I pick y’all up. And just so you know. Tammy loves me and she’ll talk to you when she’s ready,” Chris answered. “She is a tough little girl.”

“Okay, see you in ten,” Jensen said before ending the call. He turned around and looked down the corridor to where Jared was meeting with Dr. Ferris. She had a fantastic reputation when it came to patients with shock or stress syndromes. 

When the door opened, to Jensen’s surprise it wasn’t Jared, but Dr. Ferris who came out looking around and spotting him, started toward him.

“Hi, Mr. Ackles,” she greeted him.

“Dr. Ferris, Hello, everything okay?”

She showed him to a small conference room, the huge windows giving a nice view over the streets below.

“Thank you so much for agreeing to meet me.”

“Not a problem,” Jensen took the seat she indicated.

“I wanted to talk with you about Jared,” she started. “I have his permission to do so.” Ferris took the seat to his left. “I wanted to know what you’ve observed about him.”

“Such as?”

“Have you ever seen Jared distant or almost absent?”

Jensen nodded. He had seen Jared get this distant look in his eyes, but had assumed he just was a little bit sad which is what he told her.

“I guess this should be like ripping of that proverbial bandage,” she took a breath. “I don’t often share this kind of information about patients, but, since Jared is living with you. And while I don’t think he’ll escalate to being dangerous to himself, I think it,” she trailed off and looked out at the view for a moment. 

“What are you trying to tell me, doctor,” Jensen coaxed. It didn’t take a genius to see that while there was something she needed to tell him about his house guest, she was reluctant.

“Jensen,” she leaned toward him, “Jared was repeatedly raped on board _The Carlos_.” 

“Sonuvabitch!” The expletive escaped before he could stop it. “I knew something had to have happened to him. The first night he was with me…”

“He told me,” the doctor interrupted. “That was one of the things he learned on the ship.” She folded her hands over her notebook, “Mostly, he was abused by the Captain but there was one instance where he was raped by four crewmembers. He said that the Captain saw it as a payment and he thinks that he has to pay you too…” 

“Oh, Mithras! Now that whole scene after his shower makes more sense!” He rubbed his hand over his mouth, “What should I do, now?” He looked at the doctor for guidance, “Should we try to find other housing? Should we… what do you want me to do?” 

Jensen felt sick after hearing what the young man had suffered. He liked Jared and he would like to hope that someday Jared would feel the same. But he had come to him half naked, knelt wordlessly before him. Damnit! That should have told him something! He was only grateful that he had been steadfast and hadn’t started something with the kid. 

“You need to be calm, Jensen. None of this was your fault.” Samantha soothed Jensen.

“What should we do, now,” Jensen asked miserable.

“Under other circumstances,” the doctor played with her pen, “I would advise a new housing arrangement, but I fear for Jared with other hosts or even worse in a refugee center.” She let out a small sigh, “Then there’s Tammy to consider. She needs as much stability as possible and she likes you. I think Jared is somewhat comfortable with you, likes you, and perhaps may even be starting to trust you. So,” she locked her gaze on his worried one, “if you’re still all right with it, I would recommend that he and Tammy continue to stay with you.”


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
Jensen lay in his bed, unable to find sleep. Four months had past and today Jared had kissed him! Jared told Jensen, that Dr. Ferris had told him, that he should pursue what he wanted. So, then, obviously Jared wanted to kiss him. Maybe this was a good sign, right? He could only hope that and it meant Jared was making progress.

Jensen listened to the rain falling down against his windows. It was the end of January and the weather was cold and wet in Vonstreuben. When he returned home today, Jared had prepared a dinner of pasta and a fantastic sauce. It was nice, the three of them eating together. It was good to hear Tammy talking a little bit about her school day.

Tammy had made quite a lot of progress. She had gotten better and better, and spoke for the first time in December by asking for something to drink. As it turned out all she needed was a stable environment to get better. Since January she was going to school, again.

Jared and Chad would start university again in March, but Gen wanted to wait till the baby came. Selma and Jim were happy to, not only, have Jensen as a surrogate son but, also their two nephews, as well as Gen. And soon there would be a little baby to fuss over.

But it wasn’t the only thing that kept Jensen awake at night. Chris and Pellegrino had, again, reminded Jensen of the killing order the Pater had released on his head. Since the truce between Brith and the Old Order, the numbers of terrorist activities had increased in Amerigo.

From the corner of his eye, he saw movement by his door. Jared came into his bed room. 

“Everything okay, Jared?” Jensen asked.

These past three month had been a sweet torture on Jensen’s love life. He found himself very taken with this handsome young man. In fact, he was surprised to find himself very much in love with him. But Dr. Ferris made it clear to him that if Jared was to overcome what happened, he was the one who would have to make the first move.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Jared answered. 

The last couple of month had been an emotional rollercoaster ride for Jared. He had to come to terms, with what had happened on board _The Carlos_. He’d watched Tammy getting better and finally going to school again. Last time he saw his cousin, Tom told him that he was a disgrace and he never wanted to see him or talk to him again. He had gotten a tattoo over the scar Lehne had cut into his chest. It showed the dragon of the Cambrian flag. You had to look really closely to see the scar and Jared loved his little dragon.

And then there was Jensen. He was there every step of the way, supporting Jared, helping when asked, keeping his distance when Jared needed it. Suddenly, last week to be exact, Jared realised he couldn’t imagine life in Amerigo, in Vonstreuben, DC without Jensen. He realized that HE WANTED Jensen around and that despite or because of the terrible timing, Jared had fallen in love with Jensen. 

Dr. Ferris encouraged Jared to act on his feelings. She wanted him to trust himself. She assured Jared that he would never know if Jensen felt the same but he would probably never make a move if he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that it was something Jared wanted, too.

Jared moved closer to Jensen. “Dr. Ferris advised me that … if I want to… be together with you I have to make the first step.” 

“I would never force you to do anything you don’t want,” Jensen told Jared.  
Jared nodded. He knew that, had learned it over these past months.

“I want more Jensen,” Jared stated quietly, a bit unsure of Jensen’s feelings, “I want you.” 

Jensen couldn’t breathe, that was all he had been hoping for with Jared. He still cringed when he thought back to the first night he brought Jared home. He shuddered thinking of the young man that offered himself to him in payment. But that’s not the man with him now. In the past months Jared had changed quite a bit. He was healing and that was what they all hoped for. He thanked Mithras every day that he’d stopped Jared that night and it didn’t lead to a huge misunderstanding.  
“What do you want me to do,” Jensen whispered as if he was afraid that if he spoke too loudly, he would wake up from this dream. 

“I want, I want,” Jared hesitate, but then started again, “I want to make love to you. Please, Jensen.”

Wordlessly, Jensen nodded as Jared crossed the distance to his bed. Jensen held the covers up and Jared slid under pressing his hard hot body against Jensen.

“Can I kiss you,” Jared asked. Silently, Jensen answered by pressing his lips against Jared’s. It was chaste at first. And when Jensen ran his tongue over Jared’s lips, he didn’t have to beg for entry. Jared opened willingly. 

Jensen had no preferences to top or to bottom, but he figured it was important for Jared to feel in control. So, he let his young lover take the lead. Jared kissed Jensen with all the desperation and passion he felt for this man. His hands travelled up and down Jensen’s torso; Jared almost couldn’t believe he was allowed to touch, to caress…

In wonder his hand explored Jensen’s body, then his lips followed the same trail his hands had explored. Jensen had his fair share of lovers but never before had he felt so worshipped. 

“Jensen,” He whispered.

“I’m right here,” Jensen assured.

“Do you have…?”

“Top drawer.” 

Jared leaned over and fished lube and condoms out of the drawer. He put some lube on his finger and circled around Jensen’s opening without penetrating. The muscle loosened and Jared’s finger slipped in easily.

Tight, velvety heat engulfed Jared’s digit and Jensen gave a low guttural moan. While kissing Jensen he moved his finger slowly inside him. When Jensen started to push back, Jared added a second finger and then a third. 

“Jared if you don’t get in me any time soon I’ll be finishing this alone,” Jensen let out. His cock was hard and leaking against his stomach.

“Impatient,” Jared asked.

“Mmm, been waiting months!” 

Jared removed his fingers, ripped the condom open and rolled it on. Jensen could only stare, Jared looked so good. He’d put on some weight and had started to work out. The result was breath taking, his body like a sculpture of young Mithras. Jared lined up and bending Jensen’s legs back slowly push in.

Inch by inch Jared entered Jensen’s thigh channel and it felt like a first time. Not only for the two of them together, but also that Lehne hadn’t succeeded in spoiling sex for Jared forever. What he had with Lehne was just sex. Abusive sex, he knew that now. This was sex with desire, with love. 

“Jared, please, move! In the name of Mithras move,” Jensen pleaded. 

Jared set a slow rhythm meeting Jensen movements and hitting his prostate every second push. After what seemed like an eternity to Jensen, Jared finally picked up the pace, moving faster inside him. Sweat glistened on their skin and in the light of the full moon streaming through the windows it looked like their bodies were made of silver.

Moaning Jared’s name over and over Jensen felt his climax approaching. Jared moved his hand to Jensen’s beautifully full cock, stroking him in counter movement to his thrusts. 

Jensen could feel his abs tightening and that familiar tingle in his balls. They were in perfect sync. Filling up, being filled. It felt like they were becoming one. Jensen came in strong thick strands of pearly come, Jared followed only seconds later. 

They laid chest to chest in each other’s arms trying to catch their breath.

“I love you, Jared Padalecki,” Jensen whispered. Jared answered him with a deep kiss. It wasn’t the answer Jensen hoped for, but it was something he could work with.

Jared snuggled closer to Jensen making himself comfortable.

“Will this be okay with Tammy tomorrow morning,” Jensen asked astonished.

“After dinner tonight,” he turned to Jensen with a grin, “she told me I should kiss you. Because you look so pretty when you smile,” he chuckled softly, “and then she’d get more ice cream. So, yeah,” he looked back up at the ceiling, “I think that she’ll be okay. 

Jensen answered kissing the top of Jared’s head before he whispered good night and they both went to sleep. 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“I found the opportunity, but I need help.”

_“What do you need, Miles?”_

“A diversion, so I can be sure he’s not at home.”

_“We can help with that.”_

“It will be the day we make history. Not only Ackles will die, but the President as well.”

~*~

A couple of days later, Jared was on campus to meet with Chad in a coffee shop. They needed to register for the spring semester to finish their studies. It was a cold but sunny morning, Tammy was at school and Jensen was in his office. They would be meeting later for a reception at the White House. 

Jared still had some time left before he met with Chad, and so he walked around the campus to get familiar with the layout of the different buildings. He was standing in front of a building trying to figure out if this was building E or F on his map when someone ran into him.

“Oh! sorry, the young man apologised, “I was looking for …” he looked up at the body he’d crashed into. “Jared? Jared Padalecki?”

“Yes,” Jared answered warily. After the broadcasting of Jared’s, “First Steps,” a lot of people recognised him and congratulated him. It made an already hard time harder, but Dr. Ferris explained that they only meant to express their respect and happiness that he and his sister were safe. Only a few people knew the truth about what happened aboard _The Carlos_. His uncle and Chad, Jensen and probably his friend Chris, since they were so close and he was in charge of security and, of course, Dr. Ferris.

“Jared don’t you remember me,” the guy exclaimed. “Matthew,” he put his hand out, “Matthew Cohen. I went to school with Tom.”

“Oh, hi! I didn’t recognise you, how are you doing?” Jared had never liked Matthew very much, he had been extreme in his beliefs and to be honest, Jared was surprised that Matthew was here and not in Cambria with Heliodromus. 

“Fine,” Matthew answered. “How is Tom? Is he here too?” Matthew looked around as if he expected Tom to show up any second. 

“Well,” Jared answered, “he is in Vonstreuben DC but not with me, here, today.” 

“Oh, okay,” Matthew nodded, “You know what,” he fished a paper from his pocket, “I’ll give you my number, maybe you could pass it along to Tom?” 

“Sure, no problem.”

“Great! Thanks,” he handed Jared the paper, “See you around," he grinned and waved as he turned around heading in the direction he had come from. Jared had the strange feeling that he’d been set up. He looked at the card Matthew had just given him with just his name and phone number. Pocketing the card, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with it, he hadn’t seen Tom in months. And that last time, Tom had told him he was disgusted by him. 

Jared still couldn’t understand why Tom had refused to help him on board _The Carlos_. He seemed to blame Jared for what happened. He looked back at his map and thought that he’d give Chad the card and he could pass it on to Tom.

He was almost a little late when he made it to the coffee shop. Chad was babbling excited about the prospect of finishing their studies, so they could, finally, start working. When Chad stopped chattering for a moment, Jared mentioned meeting Matthew and passing on his information to Tom, Chad looked troubled.

“Ohh,” Chad answered slowly, “but Uncle Jim told Tom to leave his house.” He saw Jared’s surprise at this news. “He moved out a couple of weeks ago and no one I know has seen him since.”

“What happened? Why didn’t anybody tell me?” 

“Jared, you had a hard time yourself.” Chad sat forward in his chair. “We didn’t want to burden you with Tom being an asshole. You know he’s been rude and impolite, disrespectful to Gen the whole time; it only got worse. He called her names and almost slapped Aunt Selma in the face, well that was when Uncle Jim had enough and kicked him out.”

Jared’s good mood vanished. They had all made it out of Cambria together and alive, only to lose each other, now? 

~*~

“Jensen, we have a problem,” Kane with Pellegrino in tow were standing in the doorway of Jensen’s office. He’d just gotten off the phone with the Chief of Staff about a reception with the President. Jared was about to be introduced to President Morgan, but didn’t know that yet. It was a surprise Jensen had planned. But, now he looked inquiringly at his friends. 

“What’s the matter,” he asked.

Kane and Pellegrino looked at each other. “You won’t like it.” Kane started and Jensen nodded motioning him to continue. 

“Could you please come to the point?”

“We are still looking for The Miles that The Pater sent to kill you,” Pellegrino explained “we got a name and we have a second confirmation…” 

“And?”

“Padalecki.”

“Jared? Come on Chris you know Jared,” Jensen protested. “He’s no assassin! Mithras! He went to therapy to overcome what happened to him.”

“Or this could be a clever move to bring him close to you to attack,” Pellegrino said following Chris into the office. “Also he was seen this morning with a known member of Heliodromus. They seemed friendly, seem to know each other.” He leaned against the credenza, “At the end, Cohen gave Jared a piece of paper. We’ve lost the High Priestess; we are not going to lose you.” 

“That meeting, it doesn’t have to mean anything,” Jensen snorted.

“No, but together with the name,” Chris tried to reason, “and Jared being … so close to you, Jensen, you’ve got to admit that he’d be the perfect choice. He’s close enough to you to …” 

“No!” Jensen almost screamed at him “we…” Jensen stopped he didn’t want to talk about his relationship with Jared with Pellegrino there. Somehow, Jensen couldn’t bring himself to talk in front of his one-night-stand about the man he had fallen in love with.

“In any case, the next steps have been arranged,” Pellegrino told Jensen, as if he hadn’t said anything at all.

“What do you mean,” Jensen asked dreading the answer.

~*~

Jared and Chad were about to leave the coffee shop when it happened. Out of nowhere eight or nine black-masked men were pointing automatic guns at them.

“Get on your knees!” They shouted, “Don’t move! We want to see your hands!”

As Jared got down on his knees, a distant part of his mind wondered how he could show his hands without moving. As soon as he was on his knees, three men pushed him to the ground. One was kneeling on his back, securing his hands in cuffs and putting a black hood over his head. Held down by three men, bound and blindfolded, Jared started to panic. He was back on board _The Carlos_ and the men were holding him down. He kicked and struggled and pushed against them, but suddenly there was a sharp pain in the middle of his back and then black nothingness.

Pellegrino and Kane were shocked. They had watched the video of Jared’s arrest. It had started as planned, arresting them when they left the coffee shop, but then from one second to the next Jared went mad. He punched and kicked at the men that were arresting him and they had to taze him! The video ended with a screaming Chad and Jared being dragged away by two of the men. 

“Oh, shit!” Pellegrino commented and Chris could only agree. The way Jared fought looked like a trained fighter, even if he, maybe, waited too long. 

“Jensen will be…”

“I will be what,” Jensen asked from the door. They had changed location and were now in the SA headquarters. Pellegrino moved swiftly in front of the TV blocking Jensen’s view, but Jensen had none of that, he moved around Mark and watched what happened.

“Are you two out of your friggin’ minds?” He looked accusingly at both men, “He’s a kid! You could have arrested him with one police officer. Instead you sent half an army!”

“Jensen, did you seen what we saw?” Chris looked compassionately at his friend, “He fought. You know the innocent don’t usually fight, at least, not like that!”

He’s obviously had some training in hand to hand combat, just as we expected,” Pellegrino argued. “We wanted to be safe and we were right.”

“He panicked!” Jensen retorted. “He was afraid then they held him down!”

“The suspect is awake,” came the info over the intercom.

Pellegrino led them down the hall to a window that gave view into an interrogation room where Jared was sitting in a metal chair and he was slowly coming to.

“Can I talk to him,” Jensen asked.

“No, you have to be at the White House,” Misha said from behind them holding a tuxedo up.

“I can’t…” Jensen started.

“If this is a mistaken identity, Jensen,” Chris appeased, “everything will be fine and Jared can still meet you.”

Jensen was still more than reluctant to leave Jared, but Misha grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

~*~

Jared’s back hurt. _Why did his back hurt?_

Jared tried to push his hair out of his eyes but he couldn’t, his hands were shackled. He opened his eyes. He was cuffed to a chair in a plain grey room. In front of him was a plain table with another chair and behind that a mirror. 

_Where was he?_

It looked like an interrogation room from TV and then Jared remembered the men in black with the automatic guns. 

_Where was Chad? Or Jensen? Jensen could probably explain everything._ The door opened and a tall dark blond man entered, “My name is Mark Pellegrino, Mr. Padalecki. Do you know why you are arrested?” 

“No,” Jared shook his head, “this must be a misunderstanding.”

~*~

So far everything went as planned. The Miles met with his contact. This would be the greatest success Heliodromus could ever achieve. 

~*~  
Jensen and Misha reached the White House. Today, there was some extra security because of the reception.

~*~

“Jared,” Pellegrino pulled the opposite chair out with a screech and sat down, “we know you had contact with a member of Heliodromus today.” He leaned toward Jared, “Now, we want to know, what are your plans,” Pellegrino pressed.

“My only plan is to enroll at the university,” Jared answered, getting worried. He could see that Pellegrino didn’t believe him and that he was losing his patience. 

“Mr. Padalecki, we know that you’re The Miles and we know your mission.” 

“Your information is wrong. Ask Mr. Ackles or… or… his security man Kane, Chris Kane.” 

Jared was sure this was a mistaken identity thing and if Pellegrino didn’t believe him, maybe he would believe Jensen. Oh, Mithras! Jensen was expecting him for this reception thing in the White House, maybe they would allow him to call Jensen. A knock on the door interrupted them. 

Chris Kane entered, but one look at him told Jared that he wasn’t here as a friend.

“Hey, Jared.” 

“Chris what’s going on?” 

“Jared it’s over, son,” Chris said sharply, “you can drop the act. When organizations grow, they start to leak,” he said sitting in the chair next to Pellegrino, “we have insiders in Heliodromus. We know why you came to Amerigo. And we know your mission,” Chris hissed at Jared.

“My mission?” Jared shook his head, “What are you talking about? I came here to get my family to safety. It’s all I ever wanted!” 

“Jared, I told you,” Chris pressed his point, “Heliodromus isn’t as confidential as it used to be. You’re not the first Miles we’ve caught.” Chris looked at him through narrowed eyes, “The only thing I don’t understand, is why you waited so long before attacking Jensen? You’ve lived with him for over four months,” he frowned, “why not attack him on your first night?”

“No, no no.” Jared shook his head, panicked. “This must be a misunderstanding! Jensen and I are together,” Jared pleaded with the two men, “I would never harm him!” 

Pellegrino motioned to Chris to follow him outside.

“This doesn’t add up Mark,” Chris looked through the window at Jared, “He could’ve killed Jensen months ago. To wait this long only increased the possibility of discovery.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he studied Jared. “And now,” he turned to Pellegrino, “he claims that he and Jensen are together. And I’ve seen them together, I’ve seen him with his sister, hell, I’ve spent nights and days with them. This doesn’t make any sense!” 

“Well, I can tell you why, maybe, Jensen didn’t say anything about him and Jared being together,” Pellegrino answered with a grin that was between dirty and embarrassed. It took Kane a second to actually get what Mark was hinting at.  
“Oh – okay, I’ll call Jensen,” Chris agreed with a sigh, “and ask him about this being together thing.”

“And I’ll try to reach our source within Heliodromus,” Mark conceded, “and ask if there is more detailed information.”

~*~

Jensen and Misha were getting ready for the reception when Jensen’s phone rang.  
“Ackles.”

_“Jensen,”_ Chris’s voice came through the phone, _“just one question. “Are you and Jared together?”_

“Ahm … yeah, we are. But it’s new and I… wait… why?” 

_“It’s okay … talk to you later,”_ Chris hung up.

A little bit irritated, Jensen looked at his phone that had nothing but a dial tone. He swiped it clear and shook his head as he went back to dressing.

“Everything okay,” Misha asked.

“I hope so,” Jensen slipping on his jacket. “This thing with Jared? It can only be some sort of mistaken identity.”

~*~

He put the bomb belt on. It was a highly sophisticated thing and he had no idea how The Old Order got their hands on something so advanced, but he knew they had a lot of connections. Only a couple of hours more and he would rise from Miles right up to become a Heliodromus. All martyrs did. 

~*~

Jared didn’t know how much time had passed. They had taken his watch half an hour, maybe longer. Chris came back with that Security guy, Pelle-something.

“Okay, Jared,” Chris started, “I’ll take a leap of faith here, son. We have confirmed information that a certain T.J. Padalecki will launch a terrorist attack. Today. And Jensen is the intended target.”

“Jensen is the…” Jared had some trouble processing that. 

“Let me guess,” Chris took the same seat as before, “Jensen never told you about the killing order he had on his head?” 

“No,” Jared shook his head, “he didn’t say a word!”

“Mr. Padalecki,” the tall blond guy addressed him, “you’re our only suspect and yet I tend to agree with Kane on this one, you seem innocent. Nevertheless, a very reliable and trusted source gave us your name.”

“I don’t know how that could be,” Jared protested. “I’m not a follower of the Old Order,” he looked from man to man, “I mean I’m gay and they would stone me to death.” Jared’s brain slowly caught up with what he had heard, “What was the name you were given?”

“T.J. Padalecki.”

Jared laughed it wasn’t a happy sound, but he couldn’t help himself, “That’s not me. That’s my cousin, Tom Welling!”

~*~

Tom had grown his hair as long as Jared’s. How could he live with hair so long? It was always in his eyes. 

But, he was a Miles on a mission!

On a mission to become a martyr!

~*~

“We don’t have any photos of him or biometric data,” Pellegrino informed Chris and Jared.

“Jared do you have any photos of Tom,” Chris asked.

“Are you sure,” Jared asked, “that Tom is planning an attack on Jensen?”

“Yes, Jared, we’re sure,” Chris answered. “Our source is never wrong.”  
“Could I or could you please,” Jared asked, “call Jensen and let him know that I won’t make it to the reception.” Jared leaned toward Chris, “and that he should cancel my name on the entrance list, so, that no one can enter with my name?” 

The room was completely silent for a moment, then Chris caught up with what Jared had just said. “Oh, Shit!” He pulled out his phone and rushed to the door.

~*~

Tom was dressed in a tuxedo. The bomb belt was hidden under layers of clothing. They would keep it well hidden but wouldn’t hinder the explosion.

He had broken into Jensen’s apartment and taken Jared’s invitation. Tom had seen first-hand that Jared was sleeping with Jensen, what an affront against Mithras! 

Tom had no qualms whatsoever about killing his cousin. Abominations like him needed to be taken out. Back home there had been rumours about Jared’s preferences but Tom had thought that with time, Jared would return to the rightful path. Only on board _The Carlos_ when he had seen Jared being a slut for those men and finding himself also aroused he knew The Pater was right, One wrong abomination of fagots could seduce a rightful man. Jared was a temptation that had to die along with his lover, Jensen Ackles. 

He had left a surprise for Jared back in the apartment, but now he would eliminate Ackles. 

The taxi pulled up before the White House, Tom paid and got out. He showed his invitation and was led to the grand ballroom, now he just had to wait. 

Today, he would make history.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Pellegrino, Chris, Jared and everybody else available were speeding towards the White House. In the front, Jared tried to change into his tuxedo. When he had asked why he needed to change, Pellegrino mumbled something about protocol and being invited, and had put on his own tuxedo.

~*~

Jensen and Misha made their way to the grand ball room. Jensen had tried to reach Chris, heck he even had tried to reach Mark, and he was told they were still interrogating and now the call went through, but no one picked up. He should have stayed and supported Jared, now he like the biggest failure of a boyfriend. 

“Cheer up, Jensen,” Misha cajoled, “this is good news! You’ll see everything will be fine. Jared will …”

“Misha enough! I know you want to cheer me up,” Jensen groused, “but I need proof that Jared is okay. But,” he sighed, “you’re right, now is not the time or the place to worry.” 

With that Jensen put a smile on his face and grabbed two glasses of champagne from a tray a waiter offered around.

~*~

Tom stayed in the background, not wanting to draw attention to himself. He saw Ackles with another man with dark hair. He wondered if they were lovers too. The bomb was set now and all Tom had to do was wait for the right moment.

~*~

“Jared you stay with me and Pellegrino,” Chris instructed Jared, “just point out your cousin to us and then get out, clear?”

Jared nodded. He was still partly shocked that Tom was with the Old Order and that he planned to kill innocent people. Somehow, that didn’t fit with the memory of the boy he had built a tree house with, or went surfing with. He was selfish, sure, but a killer? 

It should be possible to talk to Tom, he was a good guy or wasn’t he? A nasty voice in his head reminded Jared that Tom hadn’t helped him on board _The Carlos_. Maybe Tom’s behavior when they were escaping Brith should have told him that Tom had changed.

As they reached the White House and Pellegrino informed the Presidential Security Service. They would keep the President safe. As far as Jared understood, they were trying to keep a low profile on intervention, and that was also the reason why they hadn’t cancelled the event. If everything went as planned, no one would know about the averted bomb attack at the White House event.

Jensen felt the tension in the room shift. It was only minutes before President Morgan was supposed to enter the ballroom. Most of the other guests would think that the increased number of unaccompanied tuxedoed men was due to the fact that the President was about to arrive. But not to Jensen, those were Pellegrino’s men. 

“Misha,” Jensen turned to his friend, “something’s up. Go to the car and wait for me there.” 

“What? Why? Is something…” 

“Misha not now!” Jensen took the champagne flute from his hands and pushed him toward the door. “Get out! I’ll call or text you when everything’s good again.” 

Misha didn’t argue anymore and headed out.

Jensen breathed easier when his friend was gone. He had an odd feeling and he still hadn’t forgiven himself for the fact that Misha got hurt while working for him. He looked around trying to find the security guy in charge. 

Jared felt like Jake Bond or James Bauer. Chris had given him an earpiece and a tiny walkie-talkie that was attached to his wrist. They entered the White House and were heading towards the grand ballroom. Jared was flanked by Chris and Pellegrino.

“You just point him out, Jared,” Chris reminded him for about the tenth time.

Something felt … wrong or strange. Tom checked his watch. The President should be here any minute. The number of security had increased, a clear indication that the President was about to arrive. If he could just reach Jared’s designated seat, he’d be right in front of the podium. Then he could ignite the bomb, effectively killing Ackles, Morgan and everyone else in a five meter radius. 

Tom smiled to himself. He was about to make history. He moved a little more to the front so it wouldn’t be too suspicious when he took Jared’s seat.

Jared and Chris had entered the ballroom through the kitchen. Pellegrino was coordinating Presidential Security and SA. Jared scanned the room. His eyes rested on Jensen who was, maybe, 20 meters from him standing in front of the podium looking alert as if he was looking for something or someone. But where was Tom? He kept scanning. Every nook and cranny. Across the room, under the pillars that held the balcony, he caught a movement. Jared took a few steps in that direction to try to get a better view. Yes! There! That was Tom! 

“On the east side, under the balcony pillars,” Jared informed everybody with his wrist walkie-talkie. 

Jensen saw Chris and Jared; both of them were dressed in tuxedos and ignored the podium completely in favour of scanning the room. He saw Jared ‘talking’ to his wrist. Pulling his eyes from Jared, he saw several SA moving to a point under the balcony outside of his view.

Jared was here! Why the heck was Jared here? He should be arrested for an attempted bombing. Tom backed away from the room. There was an exit door close by that led to the kitchen. He would get out and try again another time. Unhurriedly, he walked to the exit. Just two steps before he reached the door, a young man walked towards him talking to his wrist walkie-talkie. Damn! They found him. Now, it would get ugly.

Jensen wanted to help. He walked to the point where the other SA agents were closing in. He saw a tall brunette man slip out a side door, followed by another young man. The door closed behind him.

“Jared, I told you to get out of here,” Chris hissed at Jared, but Jared didn’t care he wanted to talk to Tom. He was sure if he could talk to him, Tom would come to his senses. As fast as he could he walked to Tom, but Tom slipped out of a side door followed by a young agent and Jensen.

Tom waited hidden behind a stack of extra chairs, until the young agent sprinted by. He grabbed the agent from behind and in one swift and practiced motion, grabbed the gun from the agent’s shoulder holster and shot him in the heart. 

The gun made almost no sound, and that was good, no need to alert more agents. Then the door opened and Jensen fucking Ackles stormed into the corridor. Tom pointed the gun at Ackles and shot. The man dove down, successfully, avoiding the bullet. The door opened, again, and Jared and one of the security guys rushed in, but while the agent also dove for cover, Jared raised his hands as if surrendering and walked towards him.

“Tom, please,” Jared pleaded, “stop this before it gets worse.”

“Worse?” Tom laughed at him and pointed the gun first at Jensen, then Chris and again at Jared, who was standing in the middle of the corridor. 

“You! You’re an abomination! You taint everything you touch,” he spewed. “You seduced those men on board _The Carlos!_ And you tried to seduce me! You’re like a virus that needs to be cut out!” 

He pulled the trigger, but Kane was faster jumping toward Jared’s back and pushing him to the floor.

Jensen jumped over the two of them and launched himself at Tom. He missed him as Tom turned and ran toward the kitchen, jumping over boxes that where piled up and people that were working there. Only a couple more meters and he would make it out. He pushed through the door and stopped. There were at least ten men pointing guns at him. 

“Give it up, Tom,” a man called to him, “there is no way out of here for you!”. 

Tom raised a hand, holding out the gun in the other. 

When the security agent moved closer, he pushed the button and the belt exploded.

Tom’s last thought was that he had won. Jared and Jensen would have a bad surprise waiting for them and with this bomb exploding in the White House, the Old Order proved that no one was safe.

He had made history.

~*~

In the corridor, Chris and Jared got up from the floor, where the blast from the explosion had hit them. 

“Are you out of your mind?” Jensen face was flushed with fury, he was so … so mad at Jared. “How could you risk your life like…”

Jared grabbed Jensen’s face with both hand and kissed him, silencing him. 

Chris listened to his comm and caught them kissing as he turned around. He cleared his throat to give some warning but it didn’t do any good. “Oh, c’mon! You guys need a room, but first, there’s a reception that’s expecting you. So,” he turned them back toward the ballroom, you need to go back into the ball room, the reception will start in four minutes.”

“What? Wait, I mean…” Jared tried to ask as Chris pushed him toward the room, “What about…Tom what happened… I don’t think I can…” now that the action was over, the adrenalin was leaving his body and his hands were starting to shake and he felt light headed. 

Chris and Jensen exchanged a look, they felt sorry for Jared, but they knew what would happen. “Jared, officially,” Jensen explained, “this will be explained as some sort of failure in the kitchen that led to a harmless explosion. Nobody was hurt, just some fire damage.” 

“It’s important to appear strong and in control.” He lightened his tone as he saw the worry on Jared’s face, “And, now,” he waggled his brows, “we need to get in there so I can introduce my boyfriend to President Morgan.”

“But the dead agent and Tom,” Jared wanted to sit down and get it all in order but obviously that was out of question.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Chris advised, “that’s my job.” He turned to Jensen, “I’ll send Misha back in, and join you as soon as I can. And I’ll arrange a driver to get you home afterwards,” Chris said to Jensen as he backed away answering someone through his walkie-talkie.

The reception was a strange, surreal experience for Jared, he remembered that Misha and Jensen tried to make some small talk, but, again, he felt detached like watching himself perform. Jensen pushed a whisky in his hands and he shook hands with the President, but the rest was lost to white noise. 

Tom had been a Miles, he had not only tried to kill Jensen, he also pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger. That he was still alive, was only thanks to Chris. 

Jensen looked at Jared, the poor guy was clearly in shock. Thank Mithras, Tammy was spending the night with her aunt and uncle. It would give Jared more time to collect himself again. 

“Misha,” Jensen took his friend aside soon after Jared met the president, “we’re calling it a night, I need to get Jared home. We’ve had enough excitement for today.” 

Misha nodded, “Okay, no problem, I’ll call the car.”

~*~

Pellegrino was back in his office, he had somehow, forgotten about the other boy, Chad Murray, that they picked up with Jared. They’d let him go and Pellegrino learned some new and colourful curses. Now, he was watching the video from the entrance camera.

There was Tom showing his invitation and heading to the ballroom. He was missing something. There was an important point right there hidden before his eyes. 

Mark watched again and again and then it suddenly hit him. The invitation! He had Jared’s invitation!

Tom had been to Jensen’s apartment!

Knowing how much hate Tom had felt towards Jared, he had to check the apartment!

~*~

Kane looked in the rear view mirror and saw Jared being held by Jensen as silent tears ran down his cheeks. Chris knew they were more from exhaustion than sorrow. Jared had been through hell today it was no wonder that he felt so out of it. So far, Pellegrino had been successful covering the truth about what had happened at the reception and Chris doubted that anything would leak later.

Reaching the apartment and Jensen and Jared got out. 

“Thanks, Chris,” Jensen clapped his friend on the shoulder as he held Jared’s hand, “but I think we can manage from here.” 

Chris nodded and waved them good bye.

Pellegrino tried calling Jensen’s home, he tried Jared’s cell phone and Jensen’s, but the calls went straight to voice mail. Desperate to reach someone, he called Chris.

_“Kane.”_

“Thank Mithras! Kane!” Pellegrino sounded panicked. ”We know how Tom got Jared’s invitation! He was in Jensen’s apartment…”

 _“What the hell?”_

“Yeah,” Mark said curtly, “we had no time to check the apartment, yet!”

_“Shit! I just dropped them there!”_

Pellegrino heard the screaming of brakes. 

“I’ll try to reach them again,” Pellegrino said before he hung up.

Chris sped back to Jensen’s apartment. He hoped he won’t be too late.

~*~

Jared was exhausted. All he wanted to do was take a long hot shower. Jensen threw him worried looks, but he couldn’t talk to him about all that had happened, now. Maybe, he would call Dr. Ferris tomorrow to talk to her first, see how he should handle this. 

Jensen unlocked the apartment door and they heard the last ring of the phone. 

“I’m going to take a shower and then just head to bed,” Jared told Jensen.

“Do you want something to eat? You had nothing at the reception. Neither did I, and I’m starved. A sandwich maybe,” Jensen asked heading to the kitchen.

Jared stopped and looked into the kitchen, “Do we still have some of that ham? It was really delicious.”

“Yeah, we do,” Jensen flicked on the lights.

“Then, yes,” Jared stripped off his tie.

“Okay,” Jensen said as he got to the kitchen counter, "take your shower, oh, wait,” he picked up a pile from the counter, “here’s your mail, and I’ll have sandwiches ready when you get out.”

Jared went to the bedroom he shared with Jensen.

The phone rang again and he heard Jensen answering. Jared checked his mail while he was walking down the corridor.

Several things happened at the same time.

Jared had just turned the knob to open the bedroom door, when Jensen came running down the hall screaming something he couldn’t understand. 

As Jensen slammed into him, the door opened and an explosion wrecked the apartment.

Chris heard the explosion as he ran up the stairs. He kicked the front door in screaming, “Jensen! Jared! “

He grabbed his cell phone out, “Pellegrino! I need an ambulance and a bomb squad, now,” he screamed into the phone, while he made his way through the wrecked apartment.

“Jensen! Jared! “

“Over here,” he heard a voice.

“Jared!” Kane moved closer, over broken furniture. Jared was on the floor.  
His face was bloody from countless little cuts from debris, but worse was the bone sticking out of his lower left leg. 

“I already called for an ambulance! Stay still! Where’s Jensen?”

“Over there!” Jared indicated with his free hand. “He jumped right before me! He doesn’t answer and I can’t move,” Jared said nervously. 

Chris moved to where Jared was pointing.

“Jensen! Jensen, c’mon, man, can you hear me?”


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Epilogue

SIXTEEN MONTHS LATER

It was Ruth’s first birthday and Tammy was happy, she wasn’t the youngest in the family anymore. Tonight she and Teddy were allowed to sleep here with Ruth, it was almost like being a big sister! 

Ruth’s proud parents, Chad and Gen, had arranged a big party for their little girl. They moved out of Uncle Jim’s and Aunt Selma’s little house four months ago to a house right next door. 

Selma and Gen had become close friends. Selma found in Gen the daughter she never had and Gen found in the older woman the understanding mother she always longed for. Gen was studying to become a teacher, again and during the days she was at school, Ruth stayed with her Great Aunt. 

Chad and Jared had started to work for a small construction company. The owner was looking for someone who could take over his business in two or three years when he retired. Jared and Chad had applied with a proposal for hiring them that was fair for all parties and had gotten the job.

Once again, the Padalecki family was gathered around the table as a family. It was a different family now, different people, but it _was_ family. 

Chad tapped with a spoon against a glass to get everybody’s attention, “Hello, everybody! We would like to welcome you all to our new home. Gen and I know that we are exceptionally lucky to have found so many new friends. Today is Ruth’s first birthday! She is the first of our family born in Amerigo and that means she can become President one day! To Ruth,” he raised his glass, “the future president,” Chad said with a big, slightly, crazy smile.

“To Ruth, our future president?” Jared asked “Don’t you think that’s a lot of pressure for my little niece?”

“No pressure, encouragement!” Jared and Chad toasted to each other

“If you allow, I would like to say something.” Jared looked at his friend and cousin for his okay, and getting Chad’s nod, took a deep breath and started, “I know it is not common here in Amerigo but in Cambria we would take a minute to remember the friends and families that we’ve lost. Mithras knows we miss them every day and wish with everything we have that they could still be with us.”

After everyone took a moment to remember those they’d lost, Jared cleared his throat to get their attention, again. “As the family patriarch, other than getting us all here safely, I had also another duty,” he looked over his new family, “I carried the ashes of our parents to our new home.” 

There were several gasps and other expressions of surprise as Jared pulled out an urn, but Chad and Gen had tears in their eyes. 

Jared turned to them, “They will find their final peace and rest here with you in your new home.” he handed the urn to Chad and Gen, “May the blessing of Mithras be upon you and may our parents look proudly and happily down on us.” Chad took the urn from Jared with a grateful smile. He, Gen and Jared would bury the urn when it was just the three of them. 

After the solemn ritual, Jared turned back to the group and raised his glass, “To family! To Amerigo!” More toasting and the eating merrily continued. A short time later, Chad had a moment alone with his cousin. “Thank you, Jared it means a lot to me and Gen. To have our parents here with us.”

Jared nodded, but was lost in his own thoughts.

“You miss him,” Chad asked.

”Yes,” Jared nodded, “I hate when he’s away so much. I know it’s his job but…”

“But you love it when I come back!” Strong arms wrapped around his middle and he felt Jensen’s warm breath at his ear. “Miss me?” 

A surprised Jared turned in Jensen’s arms and kissed him, “Of course, I missed you!”

“Guys, guys – this is a child’s birthday party, keep it cool.” 

“We’ll keep it cool,” Jared grinned at his cousin, “but we won’t stay long.”

~*~

Jared was right, they didn’t stay long. They gave Ruth her birthday present, some baby blocks and left before the cake. 

Now, Jensen and Jared lay in their bed holding each other and sharing kisses. 

After his apartment exploded, Jensen had been in a coma for almost a week, but recovered quite well, after he woke up. Jared on the other hand needed a long recovery to be able to walk without a limp. Following several months of painful physiotherapy, Jared wasn’t only able to walk without a cane, but he also had his full mobility again. After the bomb, they didn’t feel safe in Jensen’s old apartment anymore. So, when they were both recovered, they went looking for a new one.

As they lay in each other’s arms kissing, they also talked about their future. “President Morgan is going to run for re-election,” Jensen started as he softly stroked Jared’s back, “he wants to know, if I’m interested in going into politics.” 

“And what did you say,” Jared asked, kissing down Jensen’s throat.

“That I needed to talk to you,” Jensen moaned.

“Then talk to me,” Jared said circling Jensen’s nipple with his tongue. 

“Your cit…citizenship is due and we could… Jared do you want me to…”

“I’m able to kiss you and listen to you at the same time,” Jared told Jensen hiding a smirk. He slid further down Jensen’s body taking his half hard cock into his mouth. 

Any thought of meaningful or serious conversation left Jensen’s head as Jared licked, sucked and kissed him, clever fingers circling his hole, teasing, probing and finally pushing in. 

Jensen moaned. In the last weeks, Jared had been able to bottom again. Jared knew he still had issues, but with Jensen’s love and patience he was overcoming his trauma. He liked to switch and he didn’t want his relationship with Jensen to be tainted by his past.

But, tonight he wanted to spoil Jensen. 

Jared stroked himself with lube and then lined himself up slowly pushing in. Jensen moved pushing up, impaling himself on Jared’s thick cock as fast as Jared would dare to push in. 

“You feel so good,” Jared whispered in Jensen’s ear.

“I just wanted to say the same,” Jensen smiled back. “Move, I’m fine.”

Jared started a slow rhythm wanting to prolong their shared pleasure. 

Moving in and out, up and down, they reached their climax together. Jared spilled his seed deep inside Jensen, while Jensen spilled between their bodies, painting their chests with his release. 

~*~

It was a warm sunny day a couple of weeks later and Jared was sitting on the beach looking out over the ocean.

Tammy was playing with Ruth close by and Gen and Chad were taking a walk down at the the water’s edge.

Jensen walked towards Jared sitting down next to him without touching. 

“I’m sorry.” Jensen apologised, looking out toward the water, “I thought this was a good idea, I thought you would have fun.” 

Jared knew it wasn’t Jensen’s fault. Jensen had heard Jared and Chad talking about their days on the beach back in Cambria and arranged a weekend for all of them in De La Warr. He’s even bought Jared all new surfing gear only… 

“Not your fault.” Jared looked at Jensen’s profile, “How could you know that they mostly wind surf here and I’m use to only regular surfing?” 

“Maybe you could…”

“Jensen,” Jared stopped his lover, “I loved surfing but I think that time is gone.” He looked back at the water, “And that isn’t a bad thing.” Jared hurried to explain when he saw how devastated Jensen looked. 

“I just wanted to give you something special. Chad says you used to love to ride the waves. . I wanted this weekend to be perfect.” 

Jared shook his head with a small chuckle, “Jensen, you gave me so much already! The camera for my birthday, oh, so many other things! Being grateful doesn’t even start to cover it.” He flung his arm around Jensen, “I know you try to undo things; that you think you have to make up for what happened. But Jensen, that is part of what and who I am. It was mine way to walk weather, good or bad.”

“When have you become so wise,” Jensen asked.

“Well, not me, Dr. Ferris,” Jared answered, with a grin. “And, maybe,” he looked at Jensen with a glint in his eye, “maybe, wind surfing will become my new sport. Maybe it’s time for another change, 

“You, know, Padalecki, I think somewhere along that way I fell in love with you.” Jensen kissed Jared's bottom lip to keep him from interrupting, “And, someday, maybe sooner than later, I think I'd like to marry you." Jensen grinned at Jared's shocked face.

Jared pulled away from Jensen, “And just how would you arrange that, oh, powerful Refugee Advisor? Special Presidential decree?”

Jensen chuckled as he pulled his young lover back to him and peppered his neck with warm hot kisses, “Uhm, no, same sex marriage is legal here,” he continued raining kisses on Jared’s neck.

“Wait,” Jared pulled away again, wait, what are...” he looked narrowly at Jensen, “you're serious?”

Jensen nodded with a happy frown, “When Tammy’s even better than she is now and you and Chad are settled in your new company, and,” he looked at Jared's surprised face, “if you'll have me, then, yeah,” he leaned up to kiss Jared again, “I think we should get married, maybe buy a house, adopt a couple kids...”

“Oh, Mithras!” Jared threw his arms around Jensen and pushed him down in the sand, “That was why this weekend had to be perfect, right? I can't believe I can be this lucky!” It was his turn to pepper Jensen with a thousand kisses. 

He heard and felt Jensen's chest rumble with laughter. “Well, it didn’t work out that way.” 

“That doesn’t make it bad,” Jared repeated kissing Jensen. 

After a few moments, Jared pulled back again, “You're right, though,” he rested his hands on Jensen's chest, I'm not ready, yet.” He smiled and his eyes sparkled, “But I like your plan.” Jared dove back in with a deep long kiss

Jensen rolled them around and supported himself above Jared, “Then let's get started!”

End

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to thank you my Alpha reader for cheering me up.  
> To my Betas: Thank you for fast work and for pushing me to write more and more and more. :-) You guys rock!
> 
> To zephyrchrysalis thank you for your patients. It was great working with you! Thank you for Surfer!Jared. He is great! I can´t express how grateful I am that you choose my story. I would love to work with you again. THANK YOU!
> 
> Author name: junkerin  
> Artist name: zephyrchrysalis  
> please let her know how fantasic she is  
> Alpha reader: dont_hate_me01 + herminekurotowa  
> Betas:: dickensgal31 + disizletzi  
> Genre: rps  
> Pairing: Jared/Jensen, Jensen/Mark, Jared/OMC´s, Jared/Lehne  
> Rating: NC17  
> Word count: 45.000  
> Warnings: Non-Con, dub-Con,


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